Faith vs. Conviction (2)
An emergency summons had gone out at Paradise Garden.
The meeting place was the banquet hall of the main villa where Cheonyang-ji’s leader, Jeong Myeong-su, stayed.
This place had originally been a decadent den for feasting, drinking, and every pleasure of the flesh, but today it was being run with deadly seriousness.
“Ugh.”
Jeong Myeong-su, seated at the head of the large table, groaned.
He normally wanted work and rest kept strictly separate. That was also why he had built the Sole Sanctuary apart from everything else, so he could hold worship there and nowhere else. He absolutely hated talking business in Paradise Garden, his place of repose.
But this time, there was no helping it.
Something desperate and urgent had happened, and time itself was at stake.
“What the hell! How does this make sense?”
Jeong Myeong-su slammed the desk with his tiny hand.
Yohan, the First Disciple among the Twelve Apostles, the one the leader trusted most, had vanished.
Contact had been cut off. No one had seen him. No matter how hard they searched, they could not find a trace of his whereabouts.
Where the hell did he go?
Jeong Myeong-su furrowed his brows.
One of his skills was Yoke.
It was a technique that bound a target and left a mark behind. Anyone struck by it developed a mucous-like lump somewhere on their body.
Yoke manifested in different ways.
The black version burned when exposed to sunlight, while the red version pushed a target’s latent potential to the limit, though it had to be carefully managed so it wouldn’t spiral out of control at regular intervals.
Jeong Myeong-su activated his dark magic.
A blood-red magic circle rose in the air, displaying the lump that had been engraved on Yohan.
Only after staring at the magic circle for a long time did he realize what had happened.
The curse...
The magic circle had shifted, the ritual broken apart and dissolved.
There were only two possibilities in a case like this.
Either someone had lifted the curse, or the target was dead.
Damn it.
Jeong Myeong-su clenched his teeth.
Yohan was a swordsman with the blood of a martial artist running to the marrow of his bones. There was no way he would have lifted the curse himself.
Then that meant...
His train of thought veered in a bleak direction.
Yohan is dead?
Jeong Myeong-su shook his head without realizing it.
It was impossible to accept.
Who in the world could kill Yohan, a man comparable to an S-rank hunter?
At the very least, if every major guild in South Korea had formed an alliance and launched an all-out assault with two or three S-rank hunters leading the charge, then maybe—but even that seemed dubious.
It’s nonsense.
Guilds were groups that pursued profit above all else. Even if they killed Yohan, there was no financial gain to be had from it.
While Jeong Myeong-su’s mind tangled itself into knots—
“Leader. I found this note.”
It was Simon, the Second Disciple.
Simon was the only one Yohan had ever personally taught the secret art of Ganro-ryu to. He was also Yohan’s most cherished student.
Skill alone, Yohan and Simon were neck and neck. If Yohan had not pushed past his limits by relying on Yoke, then Simon might have been the one sitting in the First Disciple’s seat now.
“Give it to me.”
Jeong Myeong-su unfolded the note.
Dear our most glorious leader,
I’m sorry for leaving so suddenly. This was something I decided a long time ago. My skill is still lacking, so I want to keep tempering myself a little longer. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you in advance....
To put it simply, I’ve left Cheonyang-ji. I’m going into the mountains to train. I hope you remain safe and well.
— Yohan
“W-What the hell is this!”
Jeong Myeong-su’s lips twitched.
Simon added, “I can’t be certain, but judging by the handwriting, I think it really is Yohan.”
Jeong Myeong-su had no idea what Yohan’s handwriting even looked like. He only trusted him more than the countless other believers; he had never taken any real interest in the little details.
You stabbed me in the back?
Jeong Myeong-su crumpled the letter.
Then he snapped his head up.
“You! You! Tell me again about that day!”
The one he called over was the newly selected apostle, the Sixth Disciple, Juda.
Juda’s voice rang out.
“I was receiving instruction in Ganro-ryu at the dojo. Yohan suddenly attacked me. I nearly died, but fortunately I escaped without a fatal wound. And then... Yohan left all at once.”
From the investigation so far, they had confirmed that the dojo showed clear traces of a fierce battle.
At first glance, it was a plausible explanation.
I can’t trust this.
Jeong Myeong-su focused his mind and activated Clairvoyance.
It was a skill that could determine whether someone was lying. It burned through a tremendous amount of mana and left him wracked with exhaustion, but right now, it was exactly what he needed.
“Look me in the eye, Juda.”
“......”
A blue light poured out from Juda’s body.
It’s the truth.
It was an amusing thing. He was trusting the words of a man who normally lied so easily, yet here he was, swallowing them without hesitation.
It was only possible because of the Aura of God Choi Yongki had unleashed.
Jeong Myeong-su had never once in his life witnessed a skill higher than Clairvoyance.
That left him no choice but to take Juda at his word.
What if he had interrogated Simon instead?
She would have answered like this:
I can’t be certain.
...I think it really is.
With wording that vague, she could have slipped neatly past Clairvoyance.
Because a lie told to deceive even oneself no longer counted as a lie.
That was the moment the flaw in Jeong Myeong-su’s ability was exposed.
The leader still didn’t realize it.
Sometimes, a lie could become the truth.
“Leader.”
Simon cut in.
With Yohan gone, he was effectively the head of the Twelve Apostles.
“What are you planning to do about next week’s schedule?”
Emergency assembly had another matter on the agenda besides Yohan’s disappearance.
The Cheonyang Great Assembly.
Once a year, and only once a year, believers from all across the country gathered for Cheonyang-ji’s biggest event.
“Ugh.”
Jeong Myeong-su clutched his head.
The apostles were dropping dead, and now Yohan had vanished. The remaining force consisted of only the Second through the Sixth Disciples.
Should I postpone it?
Jeong Myeong-su already knew the answer.
No, I can’t.
So many people gathered there that they had to rent a stadium, and the scale of the economy generated by the Cheonyang Great Assembly was enormous.
On that day, they didn’t collect donations in person.
Instead, they took them through virtual bank transfers.
The donation total was...
At least tens of billions of won!
He could not afford to let go of the one chance each year to pull in that much capital.
“Proceed as planned.”
Jeong Myeong-su waved his short arm.
“But increase the number of apostles. We don’t need to be tied to twelve disciples. Hire fifty, a hundred—hire as many as you can!”
If Yohan had heard that, he would have jumped to his feet in outrage.
Only the elite, carefully chosen among the best available talent—that was the value system Yohan had always pursued as the one who led the Twelve Apostles.
“But Leader...”
“Do what I say!”
Jeong Myeong-su cut Simon off.
“Understood.”
Simon lowered his head.
He seemed to be obeying the order because he had no other choice, but no one noticed the glint that passed between the eyes of the two apostles, Juda and Simon.
I waited for someone beneath a tree.
A figure emerged from the darkness.
It was a girl with braided hair, walking with quick, mincing steps.
As she drew closer, her height changed and her face shifted.
“Ugh. My face is killing me. I thought I was going to die.”
By the time she stopped in front of me, she had become the perfect image of Jo Jeong-hwan.
Right now, Jo Jeong-hwan was infiltrating Cheonyang Palace.
His role was to take Ji-ye’s place and gather information on Cheonyang-ji from within.
“You got out cleanly.”
“I found a rat hole behind Cheonyang Palace. Slipping out for a bit is nothing. If I stayed away too long, I’d get found out, but still.”
Jo Jeong-hwan stretched as though his body had stiffened up.
“What did you learn?”
“You know Paradise Villa, right? The place where the leader lives. It looks like they’ve got something hidden in the basement. They’ve even blocked off access from the apostles and only let one person in—himself.”
That was the first I’d heard of it.
“Fingerprint scanners, iris recognition, and a lock on top of all that. When they’ve sealed it up that tightly, doesn’t it practically reek of something shady?”
What kind of secret was hidden in the villa’s underground facility?
Is it a place where they’re keeping someone else locked up?
I’d look into that later.
“The assembly is next week. Get ready.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Get back in there.”
I turned to leave after receiving the report.
“Hey.”
Jo Jeong-hwan called me back.
When I looked over my shoulder, he had both fists clenched and was trembling all over.
“I mean... the Cheonyang-ji leader. Jeong Myeong-su, or whatever, or Hwalmyeongsu, or whatever the hell his name is. Please kill that bastard. That son of a bitch needs to be erased from this world.”
Jo Jeong-hwan was one of the few people who knew who I really was.
Why was he saying this to me?
The Cheonyang Palace sign hung above Jo Jeong-hwan’s head.
He knew what was happening in there.
He had seen every scene with his own eyes, and after staying beside the women who had been hurt, there was no way he could avoid being affected by it.
Jo Jeong-hwan spoke again.
“Please, I’m begging you. Please.”
His eyes were bloodshot.
I turned away and said, “Got it.”
And then, an entirely new power from the third hero had appeared.
Why?
I hadn’t even completed a mission, and yet I’d been rewarded anyway.
I was confused, but I quickly settled down and started piecing it together.
Experience had accumulated...
It was probably combat experience.
Lately, I’d been in one fight after another against strong opponents.
It started with the Seventh Disciple, Matthew, and then I’d even gotten into a brawl with Simon in the emergency stairwell.
And the crowning point, without question, had been Yohan.
At the dojo, we had fought a blood-soaked duel that put both our lives on the line.
All of those experiences must have been converted into something called experience.
And once the conditions were met, I’d obtained Mr. Eden’s new technique.
So there was a way to flip a hero card outside of missions!
It was a discovery shocking enough to make my skin tingle.
From here on out, I have to keep fighting.
That was a decisive reason to keep chasing the strongest hero power possible.
Mirror Turn.
₩50,000,000 per use.
“......”
That’s expensive.
It was the priciest ability that had appeared so far.
Mirror Turn Around was essentially Mr. Eden’s trump card.
That was the full official name.
Mirror Turn Around.
In the comics, Mr. Eden was the strongest mage, but not an invincible existence.
That was why he could still get shot, or get run over by a car and end up injured in such a ridiculous way.
He didn’t even place much importance on physical force in close combat.
And yet he was able to become the strongest mage because of this.
A special power that sent an enemy’s own spell right back at them, untouched.
No matter how much Jeong Myeong-su specialized in dark magic...
With Mirror Turn,
I can absolutely win.
Somewhere far off, I heard a woman’s scream.
There was no need to guess where it had come from. It was the sound spilling out of Cheonyang Palace.
I could sense it.
The decisive battle with the leader was not far away.