Chapter 311

Chapter 311

I had put Soo-Yeong's older brother into Baal's Maw before leaving the underground prison, switching his original place with a doll from Sung Yu-Da. At first glance, it was impossible to distinguish the doll from a real person.

I left my mother's body there and attached a GPS. Thanks to the GPS attached to her body, Sung Yu-Da would later be able to locate the body in the underground prison. I could go back to the underground prison where my mother's body was. One day, I’d make my way back down there.

On the first day back, I did nothing. I just rested. Since I always spent my time doing something, I found it difficult to do nothing.

I tried to do something, anything. What could I do?

My mother had died in the underground prison, and I hadn't been able to do anything. I hadn’t been able to save my mother, nor mourn in front of her dead body. As the Cult Leader of the Voodoo Cult hiding within the Romanican Church, I could not even feely express my own emotions.

Although I might appear competent and free to the Romanicans, it was all a lie, a mere illusion of a free soul.

[Have you made your decision?]

Baron Samedi came. He was smoking a cigar, fogging up the room with thick smoke. Perhaps it was due to his deep-set silk hat resting deep on his head, but his red eyes were not visible.

Had I made a decision? Upon listening to his question, I recalled what he had said, how a day would come when I must choose.

"A decision."

[Yes, a choice.]

"Do I have one?"

[You do. For now,] Baron Samedi said calmly.

I hated seeing him so calm.

I got up from my seat and approached Baron Samedi. I shoved my face into his silk hat. His hidden red eyes appeared and gazed fiercely back at me, but I was not afraid.

"Why are you here? Are you here to implant meaningless anxiousness within me with riddles I won't understand?"

[Don't direct your anger toward me.]

"Then who should I be angry with?"

I stared through his red gaze, visible under the silk hat. Baron Samedi exhaled smoke onto my face.

I didn't close my eyes—it wouldn't hurt anyway. Baron Samedi took a step back and distanced himself from me. I glared at his faintly glowing red eyes.

"You could have saved my mom."

[That wasn’t possible.]

"Why? If you're going to talk about some shit causation rule or whatever, I'll smash that skull of yours right now."

[...]

"Honestly, you could have saved her. No, even now. Maybe you could revive her..."

I stopped talking. As the Prophet, I knew Baron Samedi couldn’t return the dead. Even so, I hoped he could save my mother. I wished for her to come back to life through a miracle, coincidence, fate, luck, anything. I wished for it, even though I knew it was impossible.

[There was a way to save her. But she gave it up herself.]

"..."

[All to save you.]

After the Holy War ended and my father and mother disappeared, I fell ill. I was supposed to die back then. My mother saved me by paying the price with the Contract of the Dead and sent all the Loa to me. It kept me alive and the reason my mother was dead. That was also why the Crossroads felt so familiar to me. I had been there when I went to the Crossroads for the Contract of the Dead.

Knock, knock.

A few minutes, hours, or maybe days had passed. Someone knocked on my door.

The door opened. Light poured in through the crack in the door.

"Cult Leader."

Ji-Ah looked at me expressionlessly. She didn't look sad, nor did she look like she pitied me. Seeing how indifferent she was to me when I was the most changed made me sad.

She was holding a container with food inside. It seemed like she had brought it to feed me.

"You have to eat something."

Beyond the open door, I could see the food she had left behind. She seemed to have left food in front of my door every day. Beyond the door, I could see Uncle, Anna, and Soo-Yeong.

Uncle was cleaning up the mess in the underground chapel. Anna wasn't crying anymore, and Soo-Yeong was talking with the older brother I rescued from the underground prison. This wasn't a distorted past or a fanciful future. It was the reality and present. My present.

I stood up.

*

"I’m going to open it, okay?"

After finishing lunch, In-Ah went outside to sit with her friends. Today was the last day of the midterm exams, and report cards were distributed to everyone. Upon receiving her report card, In-Ah immediately folded it without opening it. She decided to check her grades together with her friends.

"O-okay. I’m going to open it, alright?" In-Ah said to her friends with a trembling voice.

Her friends frowned as if they were impatient. "Oh, check it already! It's not a big deal. Making a fuss over a written test report card."

"You'll probably be in first place anyway."

"What do you mean, probably first place? I don't think I did that well on this test...."

Snap!

In-Ah no longer delayed and unfolded the report card to check her score. As soon as she unfolded it, the words '1st place' caught her eye.

The words were written crisply and clearly as if congratulating In-Ah on her work. In-Ah's friends laughed as if they had expected that.

"What’d I say? I told you she got first place."

"Wow, to go through all that just for her to get first place... Let's just get out of here and hang out without In-Ah."

"Wait, what? Don’t leave me behind! Hey, wait for me!"

In-Ah chased after her friends who were leaving without her. At first, they seemed to be running away from In-Ah, but later, they walked side by side with her, matching her pace. In-Ah and her friends walked around F.A. until the next class and chatted.

They shared meaningless stories that weren't interesting but made them laugh.

"I'm glad I got first place. I was worried about what would happen if I didn't," In-Ah suddenly said as if she had just remembered something.

Her friends nodded in agreement. "Right, I’m glad you got first place. But who else would get first place if not you? Sun-Woo and Yu-Hyun, they’re..."

"Hey, hey."

Before the friend could say anything, another friend hastily interrupted them. Darkness fell over In-Ah's face, even though she had been innocently smiling just a moment ago.

Sun-Woo had not been attending school recently or for quite some time. Yu-Hyun was the same, but he was not at school to prepare for the papal conclave. However, no one knew why Sun-Woo wasn't coming to school.