Chapter 134
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 134
Chapter Title: Hong Ha-yoon Saved by the Apostle (2)
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Life is truly full of twists and turns.
Unexpected events crash into me out of nowhere.
Bad luck can turn into good fortune, and good fortune can spiral into disaster.
Just like right now.
Who could have imagined that the woman known even as the Battlefield Saintess would say something like this?
Where the hell did everything start going wrong?
My original dream wasn't to become a Hunter.
I had no desire to wander through sinkholes, risking my life to smash monsters.
Nor did I want to become a human hunter chasing down villains.
My dream was a plain, happy life.
To gain moderate abilities, get a job, date normally, get married, and live sweetly with my husband.
The daily routine of waking up early for work, cursing the company on the way home.
Coming back, cracking open a cold beer can, chugging it down, and letting out a satisfied "Ahh!"
But cruel fate had me awaken as an A-Rank.
The silver lining was that my ability didn't require me to fight directly.
At first, I just planned to register as an Awakener.
Using skills unregistered was a crime, so I registered to avoid breaking the law.
But those good intentions fell apart when I suddenly needed money fast.
A guild offering a huge sum caught my eye, and like I was drawn by some force, I joined.
Guild life was peaceful, fortunately.
Until I met the veteran Hunter Kim Cheol-su...
Until that horrific incident in the sinkhole...
"Ha-yoon, the Apostle's embrace is different from that of someone harboring seeds of evil. It feels incredible."
"P-Priest... What are you saying? Why would you say that to me...?"
"Don't be afraid. I found true happiness with the Apostle. You can too."
Priest Ya Hye-jeong spoke with unwavering conviction, her words dripping with suspicion.
'It's a cult...'
I'd heard stories online and in the news about weird religions.
Ones claiming salvation through sex with the leader, or blessings from swallowing semen, scamming people with nonsense.
Devilish cultists preying on weaknesses with sweet whispers.
To think Hunter Ya Hye-jeong was involved in something like that...
Realizing it now was way too late.
The only exit was blocked by the man called the Apostle.
An utterly ordinary face.
A height that was neither tall nor short.
His speech and demeanor screamed average civilian.
Nothing about him stood out, no matter where I looked.
Everyone else seemed far more impressive.
The woman who opened a black space to move luggage, the pure white-haired woman who came with him— all extraordinary.
'How... Is there no way out? Why is this only happening to me? What did I do wrong?'
I never should have registered as an Awakener.
No matter how much I needed money, I shouldn't have joined the guild.
I shouldn't have fallen for Hunter Kim Cheol-su's line about just tagging along for the capping.
I shouldn't have trusted the Priest's comforting words when she reached out to my weary self.
'Maybe I should just let it happen once and be done? My body's already ruined anyway...'
Dark thoughts crept up again.
With Kim Cheol-su, I'd struggled not to sleep with him, but I was just the first among the other women to get taken.
"Don't make such a gloomy face. I'll stay with you until the end."
"......"
Strangely, those words hit me with a different meaning.
Like she was saying she'd join in too, turning it into a threesome with that man.
"I can't just stand by and watch this."
Suddenly, the stunning woman with snow-white hair pulled me to my feet.
Her grip on my arm was so cold, my body shivered involuntarily.
"Dragging in a woman who was forcibly raped by another man—what the hell is this?"
She shielded me behind her.
"Hunter Seol Yi-seom, things are urgent, so my greetings were late."
"I don't care about greetings. Answer me. Have you been bringing desperate women to the brink like this and handing them over to that man?"
"'Handing over' doesn't suit the Apostle. This isn't violence. It's a most sacred act."
"Hey, Hong Ha-yoon, right?"
"Y-Yes!"
I jumped, never expecting her to call me.
"You seem to need help, so I'll step in."
"Th-Thank you."
They say even if the sky falls, there's a way out.
It felt like heaven and hell in an instant.
"Hunter Seol Yi-seom, you're making a mistake."
"The mistake is you and that man."
"I know it's hard to understand from a normal person's view. But without faith, there's no salvation."
"The 'salvation' you mean... is demanding sex from clueless women?"
"I doubted once too. But look at what the Apostle has done. He exposed what Amazoness was plotting outside the sinkhole to the world. He saved me and Bojian, captured the villain who killed Kim Cheol-su himself. It's just the lewd method that causes aversion."
"You're glossing over it too easily. The method being lewd isn't something you brush off."
"Ah... Hunter Seol Yi-seom... You haven't been embraced by the Apostle yet."
"......"
The Priest looked at us with genuine pity.
I could read her rock-solid faith. It wasn't cheap theater.
Priest Ya Hye-jeong truly wanted me in that man's arms. She believed it led to salvation.
She sincerely pitied Hunter Seol Yi-seom for not having been embraced yet.
"Once you try it, you'll know. Happiness is close, salvation right under your nose."
"......You're insane."
"Ha-yoon, come here. Darkness is thickest just before dawn. Fleeing to a less dark spot keeps you lost in shadows. Trust me and be brave."
"I can't reason with you. Move. I won't let a cult spread in my guild, even if it kills me."
"Think carefully, Ha-yoon. Will you really run like this?"
The suffocating standoff dragged on.
Suddenly, fear gripped me.
This all felt like it was because of me.
'They're just trying to help me in their own ways... If I panic and say nothing here... it might turn into a real fight...'
A flurry of thoughts raced through my mind in that brief moment.
Escaping wouldn't solve everything.
The guild in chaos after Kim Cheol-su's death.
Guild members who knew exactly what happened to me in that sinkhole.
They offered sympathy and worried faces upfront, but gossiped behind my back as a money- and man-chasing slut.
Priest Ya Hye-jeong was the one who got me out.
She paid the enormous penalty fee, truly worried for me after I grew sick of men and people.
'I blurted out for help on impulse... But bolting won't fix anything...'
Even I, uninterested in Hunter work, knew the Battlefield Saintess.
Trucks full of Hunters owed her their lives.
That's why the guild, having lost a key member like Kim Cheol-su, let me go without fuss.
They eagerly released an A-Rank like me to avoid her wrath.
But if I turned my back on Priest Ya Hye-jeong now...
If she demanded that massive penalty from me...
Worse, if Radius and Priest Ya Hye-jeong fell out because of me...
'Think rationally. I need money... For my parents in the hospital... To bloom my abilities fully... Running leaves me with nothing. Better to have stayed in the guild.'
I hugged my trembling body.
Just once. If I endured today.
I'd gain Priest Ya Hye-jeong's favor, avoid a scene in Radius Guild.
.
.
.
.
Ya Hye-jeong wouldn't budge, so Seol Yi-seom glared at me.
Honestly, I'm flustered too. Never thought Hye-jeong would bring that incident's victim to me and ask me to fuck her.
'Better to back off here...?'
No ideas came to mind.
If I were a real cult leader, I'd brainwash Hong Ha-yoon with divine eloquence, but I'm just an ordinary S-Rank Time Stop Uncle who loves sex.
"Hye-jeong... Forcing this isn't..."
"I-I'll do it!"
Hong Ha-yoon suddenly shouted, drawing every eye in the room to her.
"I-I was just startled... Scared for a moment... I... I trust Priest Ya Hye-jeong."