I listened to Gyeon Taeri for a mont and thought,
‘This slls like a “if it goes south, kill him” setup.’
But refusing to et wasn’t an option here. I nodded obediently and followed her.
‘Well... if push cos to shove, Im Haekyung will co find .’
On the way to where Jin Haedo was, Gyeon Taeri didn’t say a single word.
‘Might as well be a robot.’
I considered asking if she knew Do Yehyun by face, then dropped it. She didn’t look like she’d answer anyway, and there were bigger things to focus on right now.
Honestly, I was too lazy to split attention that far.
The place we arrived at was so kind of parlor.
The parlor, beautifully worked in wood, even had a large window that filled one wall, and beyond it lay a well-tended garden.
‘They even made this?’
Call it sincere devotion or what, sheesh.
This ti too, Gyeon Taeri rely led to Jin Haedo and slipped out right away. I watched her back for a mont, then took the seat opposite Jin Haedo.
Jin Haedo didn’t say a word until I sat; he was wholly absorbed in stirring his coffee. I offered a brief greeting.
“Hello.”
“Do you like coffee?”
“No, I’m fine.”
When I refused imdiately, he just nodded without comnt.
“.......”
‘What are we doing here?’
I watched him quietly for a mont as he diligently stirred his coffee, then asked:
“Is there a reason you called ?”
Only then did he lift his gaze from the cup to et mine. His eyes were more dogged than I expected; for a second I checked again if he had so kind of emotion skill.
“.......”
“.......”
That weird standoff lasted a beat before he finally spoke.
“Those who fail to keep their promises deserve proper discipline.”
“...Sorry?”
‘What is he on about.’
Seeing I wasn’t tracking, he narrowed the scope in a calm voice.
“I set a single condition for Believer Bae.”
At that, I nodded, rembering the lunatic who’d suddenly rushed with a knife in the middle of the street.
“Bring the person you t in the prayer room. But Believer Bae failed to keep that promise... Do you perhaps know what beca of him afterward?”
“No.”
I’d tossed him to Im Haekyung and never checked where he ended up. I just assud he got handled.
When I answered flatly, Jin Haedo replied with the sa unruffled face.
“Those who fail to keep their promises require discipline....”
“.......”
“Aren’t you curious if he’s alive?”
“......?”
Why... exactly should I be curious about that?
Frankly, if it weren’t tied to Cheonmyeonggyo, the guy’s existence would barely register. And I’m supposed to care about his safety too? I couldn’t buy his bizarre premise.
He seed to study my expression, then lowered his cup and took a sip.
And then, in an unhurried drawl, continued:
“If you had simply followed along when Believer Bae asked, there would’ve been no censure....”
“...Huh?”
“So—anything to say?”
So... in short, he killed that cult prick because he failed to bring ?
‘And what of it.’
Not even a polite “that’s a sha” ca out. Should I have followed so knife-waving freak into the headquarters of a cult with a shady-as-hell na just because he said so?
This wasn’t a dopamine addiction problem; it was a question of whether your brain still functions.
I chose my words for a brief mont.
“I don’t... have anything to say.”
Saying “serves him right” would make it sound like I caused it, and saying “that’s unfortunate” would be a lie—I didn’t feel a shred of it.
I brushed off his nonsense and got my point across.
“Why should I care what happened to him? That’s your problem now, Lord Haedo. Whether you punish him or rip out his tongue, that’s on you.”
More importantly, I wanted to know why he called —but the way he kept prattling about whether that bastard lived or died was starting to feel like a waste of ti. I flicked a glance at my watch and asked what I actually wanted to know.
“Then why did you call ?”
Yeah, this was the only question that mattered.
Today, fine—he had reasons to be curious about , so I could accept the sit-down. But back then, in Busan, he’d sent a stalker to drag here after a one-off encounter; that I didn’t get.
“You must have had a reason to go so far as to put soone on . Honestly, I don’t think I did anything special.”
If I’d done anything “wrong,” it was failing to recite the prayer—if he summoned over that, he was insane.
‘Well, he is insane.’
He knit his brow slightly as if thinking, set his cup down, and opened with sothing that felt out of nowhere.
“Do you have a religion?”
“No.”
I had briefly considered trying one on, then lost interest and dropped it—end of story.
He nodded and went on.
“Before the Great Upheaval—before Heaven spoke to —I was already very interested in religion. In truth, the existence of religion is an inevitable current. Humans are wired to fear uncertainty.”
“.......”
“For example: what happens after death... The afterlife is a central the across religions.”
As he said it, a pleasant smile touched his face, like so fond mory had surfaced.
“But you can’t just believe anyone. Naturally. You can only trust... things more special than yourself. People who’ve experienced what you haven’t, or those who don’t seem to be the sa kind of ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) being as you are... very special people’s stories.”
“.......”
“Across religions, don’t the prophets typically possess special abilities? I imagine this, too, arises from the sa logic.”
Fair enough. A guy who “died and ca back” spinning you an afterlife story is more persuasive than the dude from next door. It was a reasonable point.
I listened with patience.
“Because what is ‘special’ usually inspires fear, it’s scorned at first... but once it crosses a threshold, it becos sothing worthy of longing.”
“.......”
“Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”
‘Ah... that’s what you an?’
I slowly caught the thread of what he was getting at.
He was talking about “Awakened.” The very strong ones.
‘Not entirely wrong, is it?’
A disaster-like upheaval that struck all at once, and a chosen few. Among them, those whose abilities are so far above others that they’re shunned and feared... and then, easily idolized.
I thought, briefly, of how Im Haekyung advertises himself by deliberately nerfing his image, of how Kwon Taehan got dogpiled nationwide, and of public opinion around Sung Uijae.
So call them nobles born of catastrophe; others pity them as people tossed among monsters just because they can use powers. And... yeah, so of them are actual monster bastards.
But even if, as he says, their existence lends itself to a vague religion—what does that have to do with anything?
He seed to notice my expression turning flat again and narrowed his eyes. I organized my thoughts and answered quietly:
“You’re talking about S-rank Awakened?”
“Right. Special people....”
He let the words trail off and smiled softly.
“The existence of such special people is proof of God. Even if not , most have thought so, half-consciously. A punishnt handed down out of nowhere... Only religion could interpret sothing like that.”
“So you founded a religion?”
“Ha! I founded it? No, that’s not it. I... rely stated reality. I didn’t even posit a na for God!”
“.......”
He suddenly laughed, eyes sparkling, face dreamy.
‘Living in a place like this has scrambled his brains.’
While I entertained that perfectly reasonable doubt, he lowered his tilted head and fixed squarely again.
In his eyes, still locked on , sothing bright flickered.
“Right—I don’t just want to be soone who leads a religion.”
“.......”
“I want to beco sothing beyond that—soone who can understand and resolve all these facts. A certain kind of being.”
“.......”
He drove in the spike in a firm voice.
“If such a being is called ‘God,’ then that is what I want to beco.”
“Oh...”
Right.
I listened, staring blankly at him.
‘He wants to beco God?’
There’s a level of desire at which you just call a guy crazy and move on, but when it blasts past the red line, you stop thinking altogether. I almost wanted to cheer him on.
“Sure. You have my support.”
“.......”
That aside, what I wanted to know was why he called —so why did he keep veering off?
I humored his grand plan for a mont longer, then asked again:
“So why did you call ?”
At my question, he finally seed to co back to himself; the glint drained from his eyes. Instead, the corners of his mouth curved slowly.
“Because....”
“......?”
“Because I ‘witnessed’ that situation. Soone stepped into my shrine; another believer reported that to ; and even what the report said... I knew all of it. It’s never lined up this perfectly before, so I had to confirm.”
What the hell...
‘Is that why there’s a rumor he has precognition?’
But his status window didn’t list any precognition. There was, however, one suspicious skill na.
‘Fate-Tongue (A).’
A skill I’d never seen. The word itself, frankly, was new to .
‘Does that skill function like a precog?’
While I was tossing around a few hypotheses, he lobbed a sudden question:
“What is your na?”
I debated inventing an alias on the spot and held my tongue a mont—but he didn’t stop there.
“I heard you introduced yourself as ‘Believer Kim’... In that case, it doesn’t match what I saw.”
Did he hear a na through his skill?
What ca out of his mouth next was sothing else entirely.
With a faint frown like he truly didn’t understand, he said:
“If what I saw wasn’t wrong... then you must be the Choi family’s young master.”
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