The Pope's Sacred Arts Unveiled
“Alright… I understand.”
Oh Pil-seong ultimately could not accept my trump card technique.
It was deeply unfortunate in many ways. That meant the game would not feature it at all.
‘Is it that strange?’
The only odd detail was that the area radiating holy power was the chest, but aside from that it was an extremely holy technique. He seemed trapped by prejudice and unable to recognize its true value.
It was a pity, but I could not demonstrate it either. Using it recklessly might cause major chaos, so I had to be extremely cautious.
I stroked Rohan’s head and shook off the last bit of lingering regret, then spoke again.
“I have many other holy spells you can use besides the trump card I mentioned. I currently own nearly a hundred of them.”
“Really that many?”
“Of course.”
In truth it was eighty, but I had rounded the number up a little. Twenty was hardly a difference.
“Listing each one one by one would take too long, so I’ll only tell you the main holy spells.”
That was how the long explanation session began.
Even if I spoke sloppily the developers would still make good use of it, but out of caution I decided to offer clear direction.
The two things I had emphasized were elegance and beauty. I wanted to become a high-level boss who handled holy spells with style and grace.
“Next is the Solar Barrier. You already know it from the previous game, but I recently upgraded it so its appearance and operation have changed a little. For example…”
Even though the description was quite long, Oh Pil-seong showed no sign of boredom.
On the contrary, the longer the conversation went the clearer his eyes became. He seemed completely immersed in my story.
Since writing it all down would be too much, he was using the phone’s built-in recording function instead.
‘That existed?’
I had forgotten it after not using it for a long time, but a smartphone was a truly wonderful thing that greatly elevated quality of life.
The technology had probably advanced even further since my reincarnation, making it even more convenient. Without one daily life would be uncomfortably inconvenient.
I would probably buy one soon myself.
“Enough. That is all for the Solar Barrier.”
Even while my mind wandered for a moment my mouth kept moving without pause. It was a small life skill I had learned through years of conversing with old bishops who had nothing better to do.
“Next comes the Solar Judgment. You must include this one. It is the holy spell I use most often. First, the activation method…”
I described the important techniques with special passion and detail.
Activation method, holy power manipulation, real-world use. Every ounce of know-how and secret came spilling out.
The great archbishop or highest-ranking saint from that world would have fainted if they heard it, but now it did not matter. After all, I would never face them again.
I had been that focused on the explanation.
When I finally snapped out of it, time had flown by. In actual terms I had been talking for almost two hours.
“Director-nim, thank you for your hard work.”
I had been chattering so much my mouth felt dry, so I drank coffee to moisten it.
The slightly bitter taste of coffee that had melted and thinned with ice. It was not bad after all. I would enjoy iced Americanos with ice melted inside from now on.
“Pope-nim, you worked hard too…”
Oh Pil-seong wiped the sweat dripping down his forehead and let out a sigh of relief. His face looked exhausted, yet somehow refreshed.
“Are you in a good mood?”
“Of course. The way you described everything so in detail… it should turn into a legendary-level boss, right?”
Legendary-level boss…
It was exactly what I wanted. The corners of my mouth lifted in delight.
‘This is it, this is what I wanted.’
As expected, Clitia Elluke was at her best when she was strong.
“Pope-nim, do you have any other requests?”
“Of course I do. Appearance matters, after all.”
Appearance was, of course, the most important element in deciding what “elegant” meant.
I already possessed exceptional beauty, so I could simply use it as-is, but I decided to make a more specific request.
“Please make the bust significantly larger.”
“…Chest?”
“Yes. This is the most important thing. It is the source of my confidence. If you wish, I can have you measure the size again.”
When I proudly pushed my chest forward, Oh Pil-seong quickly looked away.
Had I been too provocative? I straightened my posture and smiled again.
“I’m sorry. As I’ve aged I’ve gradually lost my sense of shame.”
“Ah, that’s possible…”
“But I’m still young.”
“Eh? Ah, yes! Of course you are.”
It was not exactly a flattering reply, but I let it go.
“Other than the bust, I have no further requests. Just make me freely. I only want to be as strong as possible, cool, pretty, difficult, and handsome.”
“…Understood. I’ll start working on it right away.”
That covered all the basic details needed to release Pope Clitia.
In truth I could have ended the conversation there, but since I had come this far I decided to add a little more thought.
“Director-nim, if I ever need anything, please call me anytime. Especially for idea suggestions, historical accuracy checks, or refining settings—I’m confident I can handle any of it better than anyone.”
I had lived in this world from the start. No matter how knowledgeable the development team was, they could not possibly know as much about the other world as I did.
“Is that… okay? It seems like too much to just receive.”
“You’re overthinking it.”
I smiled as brightly as the sun.
“I have no intention of doing it for free. I will receive full payment. Double, even.”
“…Ah, yes.”
Oh Pil-seong smiled awkwardly, unlike me. He still could not properly take my joke.
“It’s a joke, though. I’ll work for cheap, so don’t worry.”
I stood up while saying that. I needed to go see my children soon.
More precisely, I needed to go to Liam, who was taking care of the twins. His patience was weaker than a retired hero’s when it came to five-year-olds.
“If there is nothing else, I will be going. Father, please stay healthy until we meet again.”
The unexpected first meeting with “Father” ended with a smile lingering on my lips.
***
“Please be careful.”
I received Oh Pil-seong’s farewell and headed down to the first floor, then immediately made my way to the Arise office building cafe.
I could not quite figure out why I was so restless. Liam was a guy who caused accidents the moment I was even slightly apart from him, so I could not let my guard down.
“Baba!”
“Liam, tell your dad to act like a grown-up.”
In truth, even if Rohan himself told Liam to act like a father and behave like an adult, it would not have much effect. He had already learned his lesson once and turned out like this.
A complete brat during his warrior days—a truly irredeemable piece of trash.
Compared to back then, he had improved a lot.
Still, it was not enough. His greed never ended, but the real reason was that Liam remained an irresponsible scatterbrain.
‘Please be good, Goddess. Please.’
Silently praying a short prayer to the Goddess, I soon arrived at the cafe.
The chatter was deafening.
Yet a crowd had gathered inside. Everyone was crowded around the corner tables.
It was not yet peak work hours, so the number of people was not overwhelming, but through the gaps I spotted a handsome blond man.
Liam was chatting away with the people around him.
‘Again what kind of mischief…’
I let out a long sigh, then slowly walked toward the crowd. The voice grew clearer and more confident as I approached.
“Back then I said this. Clitia, I like you. Kuu, like a man?”
What kind of story was he telling now?
I grew anxious and carefully pushed through the crowd to get closer.
“Eh?”
“You’re here?”
“It’s the Pope!”
The people who spotted me automatically cleared a path. Some even forgot to keep filming with their phones.
“Clitia! It’s over?”
Only after I got closer did the guy who had been waiting look up and wave. In the other hand he held a coffee.
“Mommy!”
“Mama.”
Soon Erina and Evaila, who had spotted me, stood up from their chairs and rushed over.
I stroked the heads of my clinging daughters while watching Liam.
“Liam, what are you doing?”
“I was just chatting because I was bored.”
“Chatting?”
Something felt off, so I muttered to myself. Liam looked around at the people and replied.
“That day I confessed my courage to you, Clitia. You called me at night. Your face was bright red.”
“…Liam!”
I could not let him talk about that night. I quickly tried to cover his mouth, but I was holding Rohan in one arm and had the twins stuck to my legs, so the retired hero’s strength was no match for me.
Liam gently blocked my hand and continued.
“The normally cheerful one kept hesitating and stumbling in front of me. After thinking about it in front of me for so long…”
If I let this go I would publicly expose a black history I wanted forgotten.
To prevent the disaster, I had to use my last resort and shut Liam’s mouth.
“Liam.”
I called his name softly. The guy looked at me and gave a small nod. He had been waiting for exactly that.
I memorized the despicable sight, then leaned close to Liam’s ear and whispered.
“Please stop. I’ll do ‘that’ for you.”
After whispering, I immediately lowered my head.
‘Saying such things in front of everyone…’
My face felt hot; I could not stand it.
***
“Hey, Elluke-nim.”
“…….”
“Am I not being heard?”
I turned my head weakly to the side. Seoyun, who had been clinging to me, grinned and showed her phone screen.
The video playing on it was one I had already watched many times.
—“Liam, let’s go home. Hurry…”
In the video my face was bright red while Liam grinned mischievously at me.
That alone was enough to make me angry, but what angered me more was the video title.
[Before Husband: Shy Pope-nim lol lol lol lol #shorts]
—34 million views
34 million people had watched something like this. How shameless.
Even worse, the video on YouTube was not the only one. There were countless variations with different subtitles or minor edits of the exact same footage.
[After Seeing the Pope Couple: Reaction Video]
—820,000 views
[Shy Pope and Mischievous Husband #shorts]
—530,000 views
[Is this a 30-something mom??]
—670,000 views
[China and America in shock at the nobility of a Korean returnee “Is this a Korean returnee?” The whole of Japan tense, watching the Pope for a reason]
—1.2 million views
I flipped through Seoyun’s videos one by one and let out a dry laugh.
‘So this is how far I’ve fallen?’
For a moment I was puzzled, then nodded. Thinking about it, it was only natural that my actions drew attention.
First Korean returnee, rare beauty, “young” Pope. As I had already sensed, I was a person who inevitably attracted people’s interest.
But even so, this was too much.
The cafe had not had many people for long, yet the total length of the videos added up to thousands of minutes.
“Everyone is like this these days? Everyone obsessed with views.”
“YouTube has a lot of agro users lately. ‘Cyber Reckless’.”
“Reckless… tow truck?”
A unique but accurate expression.
“The guy exists just by existing, so he gets used by everyone.”
“I see…”
Still smiling, I grabbed Seoyun’s hand.
“Seoyun. Can I ask one favor?”
“What favor?”
“Create a YouTube account under my name.”
I could not stay still any longer.
“I will prove to everyone that I have a level in agro too.”
I intended to become a holy, ultra-large dump truck that no tow truck could ever dream of surpassing.
---
Solar Barrier
Solar Judgment
Youtube account under Pope Clitia name created. Holy ultra-large dump truck activated.