Contradiction (1)
I led Jo Jeong-hwan, who had been transformed into Ji-ye, all the way to Paradise Garden.
Up until now, I’d been cooped up in the Sole Sanctuary the entire time, but at last the cult leader had summoned me to Paradise Garden.
Jo Jeong-hwan, sitting in the passenger seat of the truck and munching on snacks, said, “This is your first time?”
“Yeah.”
“So he only calls you to the headquarters after you bring a woman with you? Tsk. What a crazy, perverted psycho bastard.”
It was strangely jarring to hear a face as innocent as a child’s spitting out filthy curses like that.
I had to agree completely.
If Jeong Myeong-su had just stayed the sort of cult leader who did nothing but squeeze money out of people, I never would have had any reason to meet him.
But kidnapping women, ordering murders, even laying hands on children—he’d crossed the line long ago.
All that’s left now is judgment.
Just like at the Sole Sanctuary, we went through a thorough identity check at the main gate of Paradise Garden.
Wearing the mask of a 12 Apostle was a huge help.
“You’re the 6th Apostle, Judas, I presume? We were informed in advance.”
The burly, rough-looking man checked the inside of the truck.
“And the person sitting next to you is…?”
The guard’s gaze shifted to the passenger seat.
Originally, there should have been a frightened man there who looked like a rat.
But now it was unmistakably a seven-year-old child.
Jo Jeong-hwan wiped the crumbs from around his mouth and blinked with those huge eyes of his.
Every time I see it, it’s still shocking.
If I didn’t know the truth, I might’ve been fooled too.
“It’s the cult leader’s order.”
I kept it brief, and the guard immediately understood what I meant.
“Ah, I see. You may pass. Go on in.”
It was a plain, ugly little glimpse of just how many women had been dragged into this place over the years.
“Haa. My face hurts, so I’m going back to my original form for a bit.”
Jo Jeong-hwan, who had been disguised as Ji-ye, returned to his true appearance.
As we drove through the entrance, a large stone marker came into view.
Paradise Garden – Cooperative Village
Icheon County, Daewol Township, Daedae-ri.
This whole area was more than twenty-six acres of private land.
Jo Jeong-hwan snorted.
“A cooperative village? That’s fucking hilarious.”
How many people in Paradise Garden were actually living there of their own free will?
Mind-control magic and endless brainwashing.
Because of that, most of the believers were probably working against their will.
And since even going outside was controlled, it was practically a prison.
Ironically enough, that exploitation of wages sent productivity soaring.
I knew that better than anyone, having spent years working in a factory.
I knew exactly how powerful free labor could be.
Through the truck window, I could see believers plowing fields and harvesting vegetables.
They sweated buckets as they moved without rest, one task after another.
Last year, Paradise Garden had received 2.8 billion won in funding from Gyeonggi Province on the pretext of operating an agricultural demonstration site.
A cult receiving lawful government support.
It was the sort of thing that should have made anyone laugh out loud, and yet it was the reality.
Why was the government so careful around Cheonyang-ji?
Because it’s that huge.
Even if they’d fallen into a cult, the believers were still citizens of South Korea, which meant they had voting rights.
With a single word from the cult leader, hundreds of thousands of votes could rise and fall.
That was one of the reasons the political world didn’t dare touch Cheonyang-ji lightly.
A symbiosis between a heresy and politics.
Any relationship that grotesque is bound to end in ruin.
Jo Jeong-hwan shook his head, looking disgusted.
“I just can’t understand it. They don’t even get paid, and they hand over every last bit of money they have to the cult leader. Have they all gone insane?”
“Apparently some believers do complain and demand wages. Then they get beaten with clubs, or the Apostles just cut their throats.”
“Hah. These people are a fucking cancer on society!”
That wasn’t all.
The people living in Paradise Garden were fed nothing but a single rice ball wrapped in a plastic bag.
All under the illusion of self-sufficiency.
In that filthy, fake utopia, only the cult leader lived like royalty.
The truck stopped.
Beyond the garden planted with bluegrass, a gigantic villa came into view.
Under the blazing sun, dozens of gardeners were trimming pine branches.
They were all so badly malnourished that their bodies looked hollowed out.
Jo Jeong-hwan’s mouth twisted.
“Wouldn’t it be easier to just start a riot? If we kill that bastard cult leader and escape all at once, the guards and Apostles won’t be able to stop us.”
“They’ve probably been broken already.”
Familiarity provides comfort, but it also breeds laziness.
After living in Paradise Garden for so long, the world outside would have become strange and frightening to them.
And with the cult leader’s constant gaslighting...
“They’ve all lost their judgment and worn their minds down to the bone.”
That was what made cults so terrifying.
They could drag a human being’s entire life straight into ruin.
“So it won’t be solved just by killing the cult leader, then. What are we supposed to do with all these poor souls? Tsk.”
I couldn’t answer him right away.
If I got rid of the cult leader, would Cheonyang-ji disappear too?
For now, let’s handle the important part first.
I cut the engine.
“Get ready.”
“Yep. Now that we’re here, I’m honestly a little nervous…”
Jo Jeong-hwan began changing his face.
I stepped into a spacious reception room.
The cult leader, dressed in a lavish robe, was sitting in a strange-looking chair.
Behind him stood a total of five Apostles.
From the 1st Apostle to the 5th.
Sure enough, their numbers have gone down.
Among them was Simon, the blonde beauty who served as the 2nd Apostle.
I knelt.
“Cult leader. I’ve brought you Nike’s younger sister, just as ordered.”
“Oho….”
The cult leader stood up from his chair and waddled toward me, his robe trailing along the floor.
The way he walked on those short little legs was almost comical.
His hand touched the child’s pale cheeks.
“You’ve grown a little since last time. You’ve gotten prettier, too.”
Of course, that was only Ji-ye’s appearance.
In reality, it was Jo Jeong-hwan.
“...Ugh.”
Jo Jeong-hwan frowned as if trying to hold back a gag reflex.
Then, without forgetting his role, he started acting.
“H-hello, cult leader.”
“Yes, yes. How sad it must have been for such a little thing to lose her brother. Have you been well?”
“...Yes.”
Jeong Myeong-su stroked the black, slick-looking blotch on the child’s body.
“Who would do something so vile to an angelic little thing like you?”
The cult leader smiled a smile that meant something.
Disgusting.
Jo Jeong-hwan shuddered and said, “Ow. The sunlight hurts too much.”
“Oh? Does it? Of course it does. Let me ease your pain.”
Jeong Myeong-su swept both hands through the air.
“To reveal and spread far and wide—that is Cheonyang.”
Black aura burst from his body.
From the shape of the magic circle rising above his head...
Dark magic again.
In an instant, the room was caught in a gust of wind, as if someone had thrown a window wide open.
“With this sacred power, I shall heal you!”
The chandelier hanging from the ceiling trembled.
Just watching it up close made my skin crawl.
...He’s strong.
Jeong Myeong-su hadn’t become the cult leader of Cheonyang-ji by accident.
Even if his doctrine was fake, the power he wielded was real.
Can I beat him?
I forced myself to calm down and cool my head.
Stay calm.
The cult leader wasn’t healing Ji-ye.
He was only strengthening the curse periodically, tightening the leash around her neck so he could keep her under his foot for the rest of her life.
Jo Jeong-hwan glanced at me.
He even twitched his eyebrows, trying hard to signal with his eyes.
What do we do now?
That was what his expression seemed to say.
The bruise around Jo Jeong-hwan’s eye hadn’t changed at all.
That was because the one actually under the curse was Ji-ye.
If he got hit by dark magic like this, Jo Jeong-hwan might even revert to his original form.
So this is how it’s going to be.
I had anticipated this situation and prepared in advance.
“Ahem.”
I gave a light cough.
That was the signal.
“Ghk!”
In that instant, the seven-year-old child lost consciousness and collapsed.
Jeong Myeong-su stopped his magic and tilted his head.
“What’s wrong with her? What’s she doing? I haven’t even started yet.”
I hurriedly knelt before him and explained.
“I secretly brought her from Grace Orphanage at dawn. I don’t think she was fed or allowed to sleep, so her body must have been strained.”
Jo Jeong-hwan squeezed his eyes shut and pretended to be unconscious.
Good. Keep it up. Stay like that.
The cult leader let out a long breath.
“Tsk. Well, children are weak, so I suppose that makes sense.”
The black aura that had been wrapping around Jeong Myeong-su’s body vanished like smoke.
The bizarrely shaped magic circle dispersed as well.
Thank God.
Jeong Myeong-su clicked his fingers.
“Hey. Commander. Take her away.”
A woman with a strange, alluring look in her eyes and skin as white as jade appeared.
Seemingly used to this, she hoisted Jeong Myeong-su onto her back.
“Wash the kid first. What the hell is that sewage smell coming out of her mouth? And change her clothes too. She looks like some beggar’s brat.”
For the record, Jo Jeong-hwan was a smoker.
Apparently he could change his appearance and voice, but not the smell of cigarettes on his breath.
“I’ll do as ordered, cult leader.”
The woman called Commander was the one in charge of the women kept for Jeong Myeong-su.
Jeong Myeong-su added with a lecherous grin, “Make sure the kid gets educated properly too. You know what I mean, right?”
In that instant, my blood ran cold.
Education.
He means every kind of filthy thing there is.
Things meant purely to satisfy his own lust.
I gritted my teeth and let my hand drift toward my sword hilt.
Should I just cut his head off right here?
Jeong Myeong-su was close enough for my sword to reach him.
I met Simon’s eyes.
“......”
“......”
She shook her head.
There were still four Apostles left.
I still didn’t know exactly how capable the cult leader really was, either.
One failure would mean death.
However much I called myself a hero, pretending I wasn’t afraid of death would have been a lie.
If I can’t kill the cult leader, I won’t even be able to sleep in peace.
I forced myself to steady my breathing.
Not yet.
Just a little longer.
Until the day of the final battle dawned.
As the Commander carried Jo Jeong-hwan away, Jeong Myeong-su approached me.
“Judas. You’ve truly done well. You’ve finally reached the level of fanatic devotion! I acknowledge that!”
“I only followed the cult leader’s will.”
“I’ll be looking forward to your future accomplishments.”
With that, I had won the cult leader’s trust.
The next step was...
“As a reward for your efforts, I’ll grant you a wish. Ask for anything.”
Once a month, the cult leader granted the Apostles a reward.
Money, women, and all sorts of other privileges.
If it existed in Paradise Garden, there were no limits.
I had already decided what I wanted.
“The 1st Apostle among the 12 Apostles.”
I raised my head and looked at the one standing to the cult leader’s right.
“I want Yohan to teach me Ganro-ryu.”
The most dangerous Apostle—the one who stood guard at the cult leader’s side—was my top priority target.
If possible, I needed to create a situation where Yohan and I would be alone.
Jeong Myeong-su puckered his lips.
“Hmm? Why bother? You’ll end up learning it gradually anyway. Instead, tell me what you really want. Anything’s fine.”
Learning Ganro-ryu was a required process for the 12 Apostles.
But...
“I’d like special training one-on-one.”
Just as S-class Hunter Na Sang-min had once been, Yohan was a true master of the sword.
Could I really bring him down?
“Why?”
“Because, naturally, I want to protect you, cult leader.”
Jeong Myeong-su broke into a satisfied grin.
“Bwahaha! Judas, I really like you! Maybe one day you’ll become my right hand.”
At the mention of a right hand, Yohan, who had been watching quietly, turned his head slightly.
Jeong Myeong-su snapped his fingers.
“Yohan. You heard him. Judas wants private lessons from you. Go on and teach this eager little student with all that wonderful zeal.”
Yohan said, “Cult leader. Half of your escort force is already absent. If I leave my post...”
“Are you defying my orders?”
Black aura surged up from Jeong Myeong-su’s body.
Suddenly, I wondered something.
Between the cult leader and Yohan...
Who was actually stronger in a pure fight?
It would be hard to judge by numbers alone.
In terms of swordsmanship, Yohan was first-rate.
But in magic, there was no one who could touch the cult leader.
Yohan lowered his head.
“Understood, cult leader. I will obey.”
Jeong Myeong-su shrugged his shoulders.
“Good. You’re far too rigid for your own good. Go out and get some fresh air once in a while.”
The cult leader thrust his short arm into the air and shouted, “Damn, I’m tired. Let’s take a bath!”
Four Apostles followed after Jeong Myeong-su.
What remained...
Was just me and Yohan.
I brushed myself off and stood up.
Then I faced Yohan head-on.
“Then I’d like to ask for a round of instruction.”
Yohan was the cult leader’s closest aide, and he also held rather hostile feelings toward me.
I wondered how he would respond.
If this turned into a one-on-one duel after all...
That would be exactly what I wanted.
A heavy silence settled over the room.
Yohan turned around.
“Follow me.”