Chapter 201

Chapter 201

"In-Ah said she couldn't come because she's sick... I'm sorry to say this, but because your holidays were canceled, it will soon be exam period again. Don’t play around all day, and make sure to prepare properly.”

Instead of Ye-Jin, Jung-Hak took charge of the homeroom. Upon hearing that the exam period was approaching again, sighs spread among the students.

Now that I think about it, Jung-Hak was always acting as the homeroom teacher these days instead of Ye-Jin. Even when I went to the teacher's office for something, I never saw Ye-Jin's face.

In-Ah was absent. If we included today, she had been absent for an entire week. I tried contacting her, but she didn't respond. It was impossible for me to figure out why she was sick and how ill she was.

"Ah, Sun-Woo, come down to the teacher's office after you're done."

Afterward, Jung-Hak left the classroom. Ye-Jin had called me to the teacher’s office a couple of times before, but this was the first time Jung-Hak had called me over, so I went down to the teacher’s office with a hint of apprehension.

Even after I arrived next to him, he continued staring at the monitor with a tired face.

"...Teacher?" I called out.

In response, Jung-Hak turned his head toward me as if slightly surprised.

"Ah, right. I told you to come down. Really... I've been so absent-minded lately, seriously..." Jung-Hak muttered with a hoarse voice and then rummaged through the papers scattered on his desk.

He took a particular document and handed it to me. I impulsively accepted the document.

Jung-Hak tapped the document with his finger and said, "You. Um, that girl. The one that didn’t come today... In-Ah. Are you close with her?”

"Yes, I am," I confidently replied.

Jung-Hak nodded.

"That's a relief. That’s In-Ah’s report card, and it needs to be delivered to In-Ah by today. I planned to give it to her once she came to school, but since she’s been sick for a week, it can’t be helped.”

"Ah..."

"Can you directly give it to her? Also, tell her to sign her name on the bottom right of the report.”

"Understood."

"Great, thank you~" Jung-Hak then immediately shifted his gaze back to the monitor screen.

His hunched neck and bloodshot eyes indicated he was extremely tired. I said goodbye to him and immediately returned to the classroom. And then I texted In-Ah.

"..."

There was no reply. During lunchtime, I checked my phone again, but there was no response or message. I always ate lunch with In-Ah, so without her here, I didn't have anyone else to eat with. Honestly, it didn't really matter if I ate alone, and if I really didn’t want to eat alone, I could just go find Dae-Man.

But Dae-Man always exercised after eating, so on days when I ate with him, I had to exercise too without exception. Moreover, Dae-Man was spending a lot of time with Su-Ryeon these days. If I decided to eat with Dae-Man, I might end up in an awkward situation where I would become the third wheel.

[If you don't like being alone, I can be your companion,] Legba said.

It was nice of him to offer to be my companion, but I could not respond to him while I was in the cafeteria. It would be painful if I could only listen to Legba’s words without being able to reply.

"Hmm."

There wasn’t really any other method. In the end, I left the classroom and decided to eat alone. At that moment, I noticed a student peeking into the classroom while standing at the entrance. It was a student with long gray hair who always hung out with Ha-Yeon. Her name was... probably Ra-Hee.

After spotting me, she exclaimed, "...Ah!"

She then approached me and abruptly asked, "Hey, are you able to contact Ha-Yeon by any chance?”

Come to think of it, it had been quite a while since I last received contact from Ha-Yeon. Although she didn't contact me frequently, she would occasionally send a message. But recently, I hadn't received a single text from her. I speculated that Sung Yu-Da might have said something to Ha-Yeon on the day I met with Sung Yu-Da, but I wasn't certain...

"No, we haven't been in touch lately. Why?" I replied while tilting my head.

Ra-Hee sighed and said, "She suddenly stopped coming to school, and I can’t contact her either... Do you really not know anything?"

"I don't."

"Ah man... how come you don’t know?”

"What?"

To begin with, I never had a close relationship with Ha-Yeon. The day I met Sung Yu-Da, I briefly pretended to be close to her in order to set the stage, but all the things I said back then were just lies to break the ice. But now, all of a sudden, Ra-Hee was demanding responsibility from me. Perhaps her personality was distorted due to being around Ha-Yeon for too long.

"Why the heck are you asking me—"

"Hey, Sun-Woo! Do you want to go out and grab some food today?"

Just as I was about to say something harsh, another unwelcome face appeared. It was Yu-Hyun. He came over to me while sweating profusely as if he had just finished exercising.

He looked back and forth between me and Ra-Hee, then pointed his thumb at Ra-Hee and said, "Who's this? Isn't this Ha-Yeon's friend?"

"..."

"Nothing? Hm..."

After gulping down some water, Yu-Hyun said, "Really? I guess there's just nothing then."

"Ogun."

Screech—!

As I called out Ogun, the chopsticks on the table flew toward Yu-Hyun's right eye.

Thud.

I caught it before it could pierce Yu-Hyun's eyeball. The chopsticks, now burning red with heat, trembled in front of Yu-Hyun's pupil. His face turned pensive in an instant.

"Do you know where the research data is?"

"..."

I dipped the chopsticks into the water and said, "Don't lie from now on. I can't stop it twice."

The heat subsided and there was a sizzling sound. Yu-Hyun wiped off his cold sweat and took a deep breath.

"...You know about the collaboration between Sung Yu-Da and your father, right? Noah's Ark was one of those projects," he said.

"I know."

Back when I took the test for the Holy Name of Charity re-election, I remembered what Noah, the owner of the Ark, had said to me. Noah had directly mentioned my father's name and said that my father was one of the people who had created the Ark. And in the memories that I had glimpsed through the spell engraved on the ring, Sung Yu-Da and my father had been friends.

Yu-Hyun nodded slowly and said, "Then Sung Yu-Da must have it."

"Do you have any solid evidence to make such a conclusion? He might have thrown it away."

"There's obviously no way that Do Myung... your father threw it away. And Sung Yu-Da can't throw it away either."

"It would only be dangerous for him if he held on to it. The documents would be useless if you weren’t one of us.”

Here, the word 'us' referred to the Voodoo Cult. Father studied the power of spells and the Loa. In particular, he delved deeply into the study of spells. From the perspective of the Romanican Church, which could not use Voodoo magic, Father's research data would have had little significance. It would have only been dangerous to possess it. It could raise suspicions of being involved with the Voodoo Cult or having connections with the Voodoo Cult.

"Nevertheless, the fact that he hasn't discarded it yet means that the documents have value for us as well," Yu-Hyun said.

Ogun's power did not activate. It meant that his words were all true.

***

Yu-Hyun seemed to know quite a lot about the research data. So I threw a few questions at him, but Yu-Hyun didn't say anything particularly informative. However, he seemed to be confident that Sung Yu-Da had the research data. I didn’t know about anything else, but it seemed like that statement was highly likely to be true.

I carefully considered what he said. If Sung Yu-Da had the research data, I would have to obtain it from him. However, I didn't have a method to obtain it from him. Sung Yu-Da was still wary of me because of the previous incident. It would be convenient if I used Ha-Yeon, but the problem was that she was not coming to school. I tried to call her to ask her about something related to Sung Yu-Da, but she didn’t accept the call.

It wasn’t that Ha-Yeon had missed the call. She was deliberately rejecting my calls. I aimlessly stared at my phone and thought about a method to meet Sung Yu-Da again. More precisely, I thought about a method I could use to retrieve the research data in his possession. The only method that immediately came to mind was sneaking into Sung Yu-Da's mansion and taking the data, but it was too risky, so I decided to put it on hold for now.

[There's also the mission trip coming up soon,] Legba said to me as I lay on the bed.

I nodded my head.

"Right."

[Don't you have anything to prepare?]

"I need to bring the letter... and prepare some holy artifacts. And I also need to do some preliminary work."

I had to bring along the letter that Yun Chang-Su, the Voodoo executive from the Gangwon Branch, had given to me. Without it, I wouldn't be able to get the cooperation of the museum staff. Just in case, I also needed to bring holy artifacts and engrave spells on the ring and my body beforehand. Ideally, I didn't want to have to use the spells that would be engraved on my body, but I still had to engrave the spells just in case.

[And also...] Legba was about to say something but stopped.

I wondered why he suddenly stopped talking, but then I heard the sound of my phone ringing. I reached out from my bed and grabbed my phone. I was receiving a call from In-Ah. Without hesitation, I answered the call.

"Hello. What’s up?"

- ...

Due to my urgency, my tone came out sharp. Perhaps because of that, In-Ah didn't respond to me. Her silence created a deep stillness. Faint sounds of rustling and In-Ah's breathing could be heard. No other sounds were audible.

"...Are you home? What are you doing? Are you okay?"

‘It means that the time has come for that friend to leave.’

Baron Samedi's voice echoed in my mind. I looked around and searched for his presence, but there were no rattling skulls or even a glimpse of a silk hat. Nor was there the purple mist that always accompanied Baron Samedi. Up until noon, Baron Samedi had been by my side. In-Ah's voice didn't come through, and Baron Samedi had suddenly disappeared.

"Hey, In-Ah. Where are you right now...!"

Beep.

The call disconnected.