Chapter 3

Chapter 3

My muscles had already exceeded their limits. My knee joints were screaming in pain, and I was panting for air. It wouldn’t have been weird if I had fallen at any moment, but I continued to run. Even if all my joints were broken, even if my muscles were torn into shreds, I would not stop charging.

My eyes were set on only one thing: the weight I had thrown. The weight had drawn a parabola in the sky and was falling at an alarming rate. I raced toward the estimated landing spot.

I could do this. At my pace, I could easily catch the weight. I was sure of it.

Paaap—!

I caught the weight initially, but the moment I caught it, I felt all strength leaving my body. I fumbled and lost my grasp. The reason for this was simple: the effect of Bossou’s power, superhuman strength, was gone.

“...Oh.”

[Sorry. I haven’t had a pleasing sacrifice in half a year. I don’t have the strength.] Bossou apologized with a low-spirited voice. Their voice and superhuman strength slowly faded away from my body.

Then the pain came. It flooded my system. It hurt to move my legs, and my joints were aching like they were broken. I couldn’t breathe, and I could feel my consciousness fading.

[The side effects are immense now without the Altar. If you feel like this is unfair, find it and bring it back.] Legba’s tone was mocking, but I couldn’t respond. I was busy tossing and turning around in the sand.

Damn it. Why did we have to lose the Altar? Why did that person steal the Altar, of all things? Who stole the Altar? I would kill them if I found out.

With thoughts of pointless regret and resentment, I blacked out.

***

Everyone had different desires in life, be it money, fame, or power. All these desires stemmed from the same emotion.

Superiority.

Superiority was the best word to describe Bae Sung-Hyun’s life.

He had lived a life of many victories and exercised the right of the victorious; he took what he wanted and stepped over people whom he deemed lowly while looking at them with contempt. Superiority sustained him, and he expected it to stay that way.

“I can’t help but applaud your skillful utilization of blessings. You used the blessing of recovery to minimize the possibility of injury...”

When Bae Sung-Hyun returned from his throw, Kim Bok-Dong praised him for many reasons.

Bae Sung-Hyun didn’t listen to most of the things that Kim Bok-Dong said. Instead, he returned the gazes of his classmates looking up at him.

‘Praise me more! Admire me more!’ Bae Sung-Hyun thought as he hid his sly grin.

There was nothing to see after that. No one came close to beating his record. Most students’ throws didn’t even make it past the fifty-meter line, and even the more talented students couldn’t throw past two hundred meters. No student posed a threat to Bae Sung-Hyun.

Except for one.

“This is the only blessing I can use.”

At first, he had thought that the student was a nobody, someone who had enrolled in F.A. by luck and had no right to be here. The student was the same—no, even inferior to the common folk.

However, Bae Sung-Hyun changed his mind when he saw the boy running after his tossed weight. The boy looked like a bull, charging crazily toward his target. No, maybe more like a cheetah. Do Sun-Woo had almost gotten full marks by catching his weight. Of course, he had unfortunately made a mistake and failed.

‘No, not unfortunately.’ For Bae Sung-Hyun, it was a fortunate event.

“Ah, he’s fainted.”

Kim Bok-Dong ran toward Do Sun-Woo, who was lying down in the middle of the field. Everyone else snickered and chatted in the absence of Kim Bok-Dong.

“Why try to do the impossible?”

“I know, right? If he had thrown the weight normally, he would have easily made it to fifth place.”

“He’s either stupid, or he believes in himself too much.”

As he listened to this conversation, Bae Sung-Hyun could feel a flurry of emotions stirring within him.

Do Sun-Woo would have caught the weight if it hadn’t been for his mistake. Therefore, Bae Sung-Hyun would have been pushed to second place. To Bae Sung-Hyun, it was clear what this meant.

‘I could lose next time.’

Luckily, Do Sun-Woo had made a mistake this time. However, there was no guarantee that this would happen again. He could lose in the next physical test. No, he would lose for sure.

From an objective viewpoint, Do Sun-Woo’s strength was greater than his. As that thought popped up, an emotion that Bae Sung-Hyun had long forgotten started to slowly creep into his mind. It was the feeling of inferiority.

Inferiority was an emotion that had been hidden away in Bae Sung-Hyun. It lurked behind the shadow of superiority. It was the emotion that Bae Sung-Hyun detested and also one that he thought he would not feel again.

***

Kim Bok-Dong approached the sprawled-out Do Sun-Woo in the middle of the field. Do Sun-Woo was moaning with pain as he lay down on the field. Fortunately, he seemed to be conscious.

“Are you okay?” Kim Bok-Dong asked.

“Ah, urgh.... Yes, sir, I’m fine.” Do Sun-Woo responded as he forcefully sat up with his shaking body. At a glance, it was apparent that he had sustained injuries everywhere.

Some of his muscles were torn to the point of bruising, and his knee joint seemed to be twisted at an awkward angle. It was an injury that would cause most people to have a hard time getting up. Kim Bok-Dong drew a blessing array to help Do Sun-Woo.

“This moderate blessing of healing won’t heal you completely, but it should help with the pain.”

“Thank you, sir,” Do Sun-Woo said.

“Your record is eighty-three meters, and you are in twelfth place. Do you have any objections?”

“No, sir,” Do Sun-Woo replied.

“Alright, go to the nurse’s office.” Kim Bok-Dong instructed.

“I’m sorry... I didn’t think you’d be praying. I’ve never seen a person pray while walking,” Jung In-Ah said as she bowed her head down in guilt. Luckily, it seemed she was buying the story.

It was just an assumption, but she seemed very naive, seeing how she was easily persuaded by a lie made up on the spot.

“Is this the way toward your house?”

“Yup.”

“Hey, we live in the same direction. Mind if I join you?” she said as she smoothly made her way next to me. Before I knew it, I was walking alongside her.

There was an awkward pause. Although we were classmates, it was the same as just meeting her, so I guess that was standard.

“Hey, why did you give money to that person?” Jung In-Ah asked, breaking the silence.

“That person? ...Oh, are you talking about the old man?”

“Yup.”

I pondered for a bit.

“I felt bad for him, and I thought it wouldn’t be too bad to give him a ten-thousand won bill,” I replied.

“But he isn’t disabled. I’ve seen him get up after getting his day’s worth of donations. I’ve even seen him getting on the bus.”

“Oh?” I answered nonchalantly.

“...Do you still feel bad for him?”

“He must have his reasons.”

I didn’t care if he was disabled or was acting disabled. I couldn’t help but think about how desperate he had to be to succumb to such standards.

“I bet you’ve heard that you are a pushover... no, that you’re kind-hearted.”

“A pushover?”

“Ah, no, I meant—anyways.” Jung In-Ah fumbled as she tried to recover from her mistake.

“Uh, the physical test! I was amazed,” she said as she tried to change the subject.

“Yeah?”

“Uh-huh. I didn’t think there’d be a person who would go for the special condition. It’s crazy to think that someone in their right mind would attempt to catch their own weight.”

“It was crazy, and I ended up failing.” I tried to continue the conversation.

“You almost succeeded, though. I couldn’t even get myself to try. I’m not good with physical stuff.”

“Third place is still pretty good,” I said. Even with the small compliment, Jung In-Ah had an embarrassed blush on her face.

“... Thanks!” she said with a smile. It seemed like she wasn’t used to getting praised.

She was very transparent; observing her facial expressions made it easy to figure out her feelings. A brief period of silence followed. Once again, Jung In-Ah broke the silence. It appeared that she could not bear awkward situations.

“Hmmm, I have a question. Why did you come to F.A.? It seems that you would have done well as a mercenary. You have the strength of one.”

“Me?”

Mercenaries. They were similar to clergymen since they also fought demons, but they were different in how they were rewarded for their efforts. Clergymen got paid monthly by the Holy See, while mercenaries were paid per case by their employer.

Most people who were physically strong but had no talent for divine power abilities usually enrolled in a mercenary academy. However, my purpose was to become a prelate and meet my mother. To do that, I had to become a clergyman, not a mercenary.

Nonetheless, I had no intention of telling her the truth.

“I guess my parents influenced me,” I replied instead.

“Oh, both your parents are clergymen?”

“One passed away during the Holy War.” If one thought about it, I wasn’t lying.

The sudden turn of conversation into my family affairs seemed to catch Jung In-Ah off guard. “Oh.... Are you sure you want to tell me this?”

“Yeah, it’s not something I’m ashamed about.”

“No, I get it, but still...”

Having martyred parents was not something to be ashamed of, but rather proud of. Not only that, but it also helped me enroll in F.A. As the son of a martyr, I was given special leeway and could make it into the school even with my poor entrance exam marks.

Anyway, it wasn’t a problem to talk about it with others.

“Why did you enroll in F.A.?” I asked out of politeness.

Jung In-Ah seemed to murmur something under her breath. At last, she looked up with a determined face.

“Um. For me... my younger sibling was kidnapped by a cult and is still missing. I was hoping I could find them if I became a clergywoman,” she said with a sad face.

Her reason was a lot deeper than I expected. I felt a pang of guilt in my chest. Our religion was technically a cult, although we didn’t participate in crimes like kidnapping.

“Cult? What kind of cult? There are a lot of them out there, right?” I asked, just to be sure.

“Yeah... they’re famous for being ruthless and vicious,” Jung In-Ah said through gritted teeth. Her fragile neck was tense enough to see a vein. Just thinking about the cult that had taken her sibling from her seemed to drive her mad.

After a few moments, she took a deep breath and calmed herself. She put up a smile as if to say that nothing had happened. The contrast in emotions and that smile seemed to be a raw expression of her rage.

“Have you heard about... the Voodooists?” she said with a smile.

I couldn’t return the smile.Undertake a voyage to the genesis at n0v*lbin#★