The Cult Leader in the Clergy Academy

Chapter 299

The operation started a while ago. On the day I joined the Central Paladin Order, I went to find Sung Yu-Da to clarify exactly what I needed to do to enter the underground prison.

When I called him with my phone and notified him that I would come, he told me he would be waiting in the research lab. When I arrived at the research lab, Sung Yu-Da was staring into space.

Eventually, he realized that I had entered and quickly stood up.

"You've come," he said.

He no longer smiled when he saw me. He didn’t even show the formal smile people usually make when meeting someone. I was also the same.

We were meeting for a single purpose. Courtesy and formalities that did not help us achieve our goal were no longer needed.

"Congratulations on safely joining the Central Paladin Order. Well done," Sung Yu-Da said.

"Well, it's not like I got in because I performed well.”

"Anyway, we can say that we have taken a firm and stable first step."

I quietly listened to him and nodded.

"At the moment, there isn’t a way for you to immediately enter the underground prison. You’re well-known among the clergymen for your various achievements, but that alone is not enough."

"I suspected that would be the case. I lack experience."

Typically, more than three years of experience was required for a paladin affiliated with the Central Paladin Order to enter the underground prison. Even then, the paladin had to be selected as a competent and trustworthy person within the Central Paladin Order and receive the position of Underground Prison Manager.

Therefore, immediately entering the underground prison wasn’t possible for me.

"Should I try to negotiate with the director? It might be possible then."

The director had the authority to appoint positions such as Underground Prison Manager to paladins affiliated with the Central Paladin Order. I figured it might be possible if I built a good relationship with him and gained his trust.

However, Sung Yu-Da shook his head.

"It'll be difficult. The current director of the Central Paladin Order is famous for not building personal relationships with members of the order. Above all, he is a person that gets easily suspicious. Do you know about the Ji Hye-Sung incident?"

"Yes, that incident was related to Joseph."

The Ji Hye-Sung incident involved Ji Hye-Sung, who held a key position within the Central Paladin Order. All the Romanicans were shocked when he was revealed to be a subordinate of Satanist Executive Lust.

With Joseph and Ye-Jin’s efforts, Ji Hye-Sung was arrested and imprisoned in the underground prison.

Now that I thought about it, what was Joseph up to these days? He hadn’t contacted me recently. He used to contact me so often that it was annoying.

"If you suddenly approach him, the director of the Central Paladin Order will definitely suspect and be wary of you. You can’t raise any suspicion during this operation because there’s no way they would assign a suspicious person to the underground prison.”

"That's right. So what should we do?"

"The best method is..."

Sung Yu-Da stopped talking and tapped his desk with his finger. He had a habit of tapping the desk when contemplating or thinking about something.

Tap, tap.

The muted tapping sound echoed in the quiet research lab.

"The fastest method would be to utilize the traditions of the Central Paladin Order."

"The traditions?"

"The Central Paladin Order is slightly different from the other Paladin Orders. They also serve as 'auditors' for managing the different groups within the Romanican Church."

The Central Paladin Order managed other groups within the Romanican Church, including the Paladin, Crusader, and Priest Orders.

The Orders within the Romanican Church were all fundamentally closed in nature, so it was difficult to stop those who intentionally committed misconduct within the Orders of the Romanican Church.

In order to prevent that, the Central Paladin Order also served as auditors overseeing the other clergymen.

“There are opinions that the Central Paladin Order’s auditing authority should be taken away due to the Ji Hye-Sung incident, but it still remains intact. It must be thanks to the director’s ability."

“Are you suggesting I use that auditing authority for this operation?"

"Yes. Traditionally, or rather, as a bad habit, the Central Paladin Order grants the authority to interrogate the criminals a member captures directly. For example, if you captured a criminal who then gets imprisoned in the Southern Penitentiary, you would go to the Southern Penitentiary to directly face the criminal."

"Oh, then..."

"If a criminal you capture is sent to the underground prison, you would also be able to enter the underground prison."

What Sung Yu-Da said seemed plausible. However, there was still a lingering concern.

"They probably won’t assign auditing tasks to a newbie paladin."

"That's right. However, whether they are newbies or seasoned veterans, they still have the authority to audit. In other words..."

"You’re saying that there’s no problem if I act independently even without receiving any auditing tasks?"

Sung Yu-Da nodded. "Yes, that's correct."

Upon hearing his explanation, I roughly understood the contents of my mission. Instead of doing auditing tasks assigned to me by my superiors, I needed to independently uncover clergymen involved with cultists or corrupt clergymen.

Once the clergymen were imprisoned in the underground prison, I would naturally have the opportunity to enter it as well.

"After entering the underground prison, you will be able to escape with your mother, Lee Seh-Hwa. Then the mission will be complete."

"But will it be possible to bring her out?"

"That's why you must use the chaos that ensues after the official announcement of the current Pope's death to enter the underground prison. That’s when the clergymen, or prelates who may know about Lee Seh-Hwa's survival, will be preoccupied with the conclave.”

"Hmm...."

"Above all, Lee Seh-Hwa is officially considered dead. It shouldn't cause a major issue. If there is a problem, I will handle it."

I nodded.

"So, who will be the sacrificial lamb? At this point, that seems to be the most important part."

I needed to apprehend a criminal and put them in the underground prison through independent investigative work. Sung Yu-Da picked up one of the scrolls spread out on his desk, quickly scanned it with his eyes, and then handed it to me.

"The director of the Northern Crusader Order. He has two names, one Korean and one Russian. He used to work in Russia before, you see. Anyway, that's not important, so let's call him X."

"Alright. However, what crime should I arrest X for? He is quite a high-ranking person since he is the director of the Northern Crusader Order."

"The former director of the Northern Crusader Order died in the battle against Satanist Executive Lust and X became the new director of the Northern Crusader Order. There was a lot of controversy among the clergymen at that time," Sung Yu-Da said.

X was said to have been involved in various corrupt activities. He embezzled public funds and was investigated for harassing young and pretty crusaders. Despite these controversies, X became the director of the Northern Crusader Order because of his clan, which was known as a prominent lineage within the Romanican Church.

"We will add charges of colluding with Satanists or the Voodoo Cult to this guy. I will fabricate the evidence. You just need to make the arrest."

"X's family seems quite influential. What do we do if they protect him from his arrest?"

"Even if they are influential, they are no match for the purification clan. And we’ll negotiate with their clan with the authority of the purification clan to make sure X stays imprisoned in an underground prison."

"Do we really have to go that far?" I asked.

The plan was to use X to infiltrate the underground prison. That was fine. But did we really have to falsely accuse him of crimes? Looking at the documents Sung Yu-Da had prepared, it seemed like X was definitely not a good person. There were various charges of corruption and minor sexual crimes.

It was certainly not good for a person like this to hold such a high position in the Northern Crusader Order. But was he truly evil enough to be imprisoned in the underground prison? Did we really have to falsely accuse him of collaborating with Satanists and Voodoo Cultists?

Sung Yu-Da said, "It must be done. There are different types of underground prisons. I know of three types. There is an underground prison where ordinary criminals are imprisoned. Let's call it A. And then there is an underground prison for criminals who are clergymen. We’ll call that B. And finally, underground prison C is for those who have committed the sin of collaborating with cultists. Basically, those who have committed heresy."

I nodded. Yu-Hyun once mentioned that there was not just one underground prison. He said there were various types of underground prisons, and individuals were incarcerated in different underground prisons based on the nature of their crimes and their status.

"The underground prison where Lee Seh-Hwa is located is C. Therefore, we need to add the charge of heresy to X and make sure they are imprisoned in underground prison C."

"..."

I reluctantly nodded. Falsifying a crime that X did not commit felt like committing a serious offense. We weren’t punishing X for his crimes, but instead, we were giving him a heavier punishment than he deserved for the sake of my goals. He was literally a 'sacrifice.’

What caught my eye at that moment was a drawer securely locked with a padlock.

I pointed toward the drawer with my chin and said, "What's that?"

Sung Yu-Da silently stared at the locked drawer, then got up and walked over.

He unlocked the padlock and took something out. It was a photo.

He handed me the photo, and I looked at the faces of the three people in it. They were unfamiliar faces to me. I vaguely knew only one of the three people: Sung Yu-Da.

However, I didn't know the other two people next to him. I tilted my head, and Sung Yu-Da pointed at the faces of the two people in the photo one by one with his finger.

"This is Do Myung-Jun. And this is Lee Seh-Hwa."

"..."

"I was thinking of giving it to you someday, but I forgot."

I continued to stare at the three people in the photo. I recognized Sung Yu-Da but could not recognize my father or my mother.

I felt so pathetic for not recognizing them right away. I looked at my father and mother in the photo. I kept looking and taking them in. So this is what my father and my mother had looked like.

I had forgotten. I recalled my father and mother's voices. They didn't come to mind clearly. What did my father and my mother say to me? What kind of conversations did we usually have?

"X made a big contribution during the Holy War. His clan also began to prosper because of the Holy War. It’s basically like he became an aristocrat through the war.”

“...”

Slap!

I slapped my cheek. It didn't hurt. No matter how many times I slapped, it didn't hurt.

My mind became hazy, my vision turned white, and blood poured from my mouth, but I felt no pain. Sung Yu-Da was startled and grabbed my arm.

"Why are you suddenly like this? Did you go crazy?"

"I didn't recognize them."

"The photo was taken when we were much younger, and the quality is poor, so it’s reasonable that you don’t recognize them..."

"That's not the issue."

Just like I forgot the faces of my father and mother, I sometimes forgot my true goal. My goal was still absurd and esoteric, so I often doubted and was uncertain about whether I could really achieve it. I upheld my petty morals and my conscience. I evaluated my irrational goals and achieved them through rationality.

My mother was imprisoned in an underground prison for reasons that were neither moral nor rational. I won against Jun-Hyuk in battle and sacrificed my sense of touch and taste to survive. And I had to sacrifice something again this time. I needed to sacrifice a few less important things for something more precious.

Splatter.

As blood poured from my mouth, Sung Yu-Da quickly took out a handkerchief and handed it to me.

I wiped my mouth with the handkerchief. My blood stained it.

"Are you okay?" Sung Yu-Da asked.

I wiped my mouth with the handkerchief again as I replied to his question. How had I replied to his question?

"But why does your face look like that?"

Jin-Seo was the one who snapped me out of my reverie.

She looked at my face with concern and then gently touched and caressed it with both her hands. The wounds from when I had slapped my cheek in front of Sung Yu-Da still remained. I pushed away her hands that were holding my face and I awkwardly smiled.

"I got a little hurt during a mission."

"Are you okay?" Jin-Seo asked.

I felt a sense of déjà vu and nodded my head.

"I have to be okay."

I remembered what I had said back then too. When Sung Yu-Da asked me if I was okay, I said I had to be okay.

Therefore, worrying about myself was meaningless. Even if someone asked me if I was okay, I would only remind myself of my goals and not reflect on my state.

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