Chapter 91: Cult (3)

Just before warping, I activated Concealment.

The scenery shifted.

I found myself somewhere in the mountains.

After releasing Concealment, I checked the coordinates on my phone and started walking. The direction seemed to be slightly off.

In an instant, I climbed to higher ground and surveyed the area indicated by the location marker.

‘...Is that it?’

I spotted it immediately.

There was a clearing in the middle of the mountain, connected to the outside world by an unpaved road.

At its center stood a building resembling a cathedral.

Several vehicles were parked around it, and people could be seen moving nearby.

That had to be the headquarters of the Religion of the Heavenly One.

I descended the mountain path and approached the building.

Several men who appeared to be guards stood at the entrance.

As I watched, the believers signed some sort of register, surrendered their phones to the guards, and were only then allowed inside.

After observing the process for a while, I entered the building as well.

Under Concealment, of course.

Was Jiu noona really here?

It was time to look around.

The interior resembled a vast chapel.

All the believers who had entered were gathered in one large group.

A podium stood at the front, but there were no chairs, so everyone remained standing.

What struck me most was the sheer number of people.

There were far more of them than I had expected.

All these people actually believe in a bullshit cult like this...?

Truly pathetic.

I moved through the crowd, studying each face as I passed.

Everyone was smiling and chatting. Judging by the atmosphere alone, this place could easily have been mistaken for an ordinary church.

‘Oh.’

It did not take long.

I found the face I had been searching for.

A woman stood there, laughing as she spoke with the person beside her.

...Jiu noona.

I had been worried that the cult might be threatening her, or that she had somehow been dragged into something dangerous.

But she looked perfectly healthy.

Fortunately, that did not seem to be the case.

Hmm...

No.

It was not fortunate at all.

It meant that Jiu noona truly had fallen deep into the cult and had severed contact with everyone around her of her own accord.

Still, at least I had confirmed that she was not in immediate danger.

I moved somewhere out of sight and released Concealment.

There were so many people here, all dressed normally, that one more person blending into the crowd did not attract the slightest attention.

‘What should I do?’

The real question was how I ought to deal with this cult.

Exposing them as frauds would not be difficult.

And perhaps, once the truth was revealed, Jiu noona would finally come to her senses.

Creeeak.

Thud.

While I was still thinking, the chapel doors swung shut.

The guards who had closed them took up positions on either side of the entrance like sentries.

The entire room fell silent.

When I turned toward the front, I saw someone ascending the podium.

It was a middle-aged man wearing a gaudy cloak whose hem dragged along the floor.

‘So that’s him.’

One glance was enough to tell.

That man was the Cult Leader.

He took hold of the microphone.

“Welcome. Thank you all for traveling such a long way to be with us today.”

His amplified voice echoed throughout the chapel.

“I am sure there are many probationary believers here today who are seeing me for the first time. I am Shin Du-rang, the Representative of Person123.”

Applause erupted throughout the room.

I clapped along with everyone else while glancing toward Jiu noona.

She was gazing up at the podium with an entranced expression.

Seeing someone I knew look like that weighed heavily on me.

How the hell had she ended up this way?

“Before we begin the Rite of Praising the Heavenly One, let us offer a prayer to Person123.”

The Cult Leader abruptly dropped to his knees and clasped his hands together.

“Our Savior. The light, the hope, and the guide of a world that will soon crumble. Your servants have gathered here today, in this sacred place...”

Everyone else sank to their knees and began praying as well.

I had no choice but to follow suit.

But...

How could I describe it?

An indescribable wave of disillusionment washed over me.

What the fuck are these people doing?

The prayer dragged on for several minutes before finally coming to an end.

The Cult Leader rose to his feet and launched into a lengthy sermon.

“...And recently, He bestowed yet another revelation upon me.

“‘You, as my Representative, must continue your work so that more souls may be saved. The road ahead remains long.’

“Ah, I was moved to tears! I was overcome with awe! Though the end has already been ordained, He continues to delay the hour of ruin for as long as He can, all so that even one more soul might be saved. The duty entrusted to this old body is merely to carry out His will...”

The crowd listened to the Cult Leader’s nonsense with rapt attention.

Some people were even sniffling and wiping tears from their eyes.

Besides the Cult Leader, several others stood on the podium wearing equally ridiculous outfits.

They were probably the High Priests, the rank directly beneath the Master.

‘Those people...’

There was something else.

The Cult Leader and two of the others appeared to be climbers.

Just as Sixth Sense allowed me to roughly gauge an opponent’s strength, there was a subtle but unmistakable difference between an ordinary person and a climber.

The Cult Leader and two of the High Priests were definitely climbers.

They were not particularly strong, of course.

None of them could have been above level 10.

“Haahp!”

In the middle of his speech, the Cult Leader suddenly launched into another performance.

With a shout, he thrust one hand high into the air and held the pose for several long moments.

Then—

Fwoosh!

A burst of light flared above his head.

The crowd gasped in wonder.

I was speechless.

‘What a load of bullshit.’

That was nothing more than a Magic Type skill.

It was an absurd farce, yet everyone around me was losing their minds over it.

And then—

“W-what? What are you doing? Let go of me!”

A commotion erupted on one side of the chapel.

Everyone turned toward the source of the noise.

The guards had seized a man.

When they searched him, they found a small camera hidden on his person.

Who was this guy?

It looked as though he had been caught secretly filming the ceremony.

The Cult Leader’s brow furrowed slightly.

“It appears that a nonbeliever has concealed himself among us in an attempt to disrupt our sacred rite. Please remove him.”

One of the High Priests standing on the podium—the one who was a climber—joined the guards and began dragging the man away.

“Wake the hell up, all of you! You actually believe this bastard is Person123’s Representative?! You brainwashed cult freaks...!”

The man shouted desperately and thrashed against his captors, but the atmosphere among the believers barely changed.

Their attention quickly returned to the Cult Leader.

Hmm...

I watched the man being dragged away, then activated Concealment once more.

“Huh?”

“What is it?”

“No, I just thought I saw... Never mind. I must have imagined it.”

Hidden from sight, I followed them.

***

Lee Tae-seong was a prosecutor.

He had first learned about the Religion of the Heavenly One entirely by chance.

While investigating a corruption case involving a small-to-mid-sized company, he had noticed several suspicious financial transactions.

They had no direct connection to the corruption case itself, but something about them bothered him.

The deeper he investigated, the more frequently the cult’s name surfaced.

“Wrap up whatever you’re doing and let it go.”

“What? What do you mean, sir? This is clearly—”

“I’m telling you to focus on the work you were assigned, Tae-seong. Stop wasting your energy on things that don’t concern you.”

The Chief Prosecutor had spoken in a low voice, quietly ordering him to abandon the investigation.

Lee Tae-seong immediately understood that pressure was being applied from above.

He ignored it.

He continued investigating.

But the deeper he dug, the more impossible it became to determine just how far the influence of the Religion of the Heavenly One extended.

“I told you to stop looking into this, didn’t I?”

“Don’t we already have enough evidence? We should be requesting a warrant and launching a formal investigation immediately—”

“Listen, you little shit! This isn’t a case that you or I can handle! Are you trying to get me fired?”

No matter how many leads Lee Tae-seong pursued, he encountered one obstacle after another.

Even so, he refused to give up.

Frustrated and desperate to obtain something concrete, he decided to infiltrate the Religion of the Heavenly One himself.

For months, he had posed as a probationary believer, patiently waiting for an opportunity.

At last, he had been invited to the Rite of Praising the Heavenly One, a gathering where all the cult’s central figures were said to appear.

And yet—

“Get off me! Get the hell off me!”

He had allowed himself to be caught like a complete idiot.

The guards dragged him into what appeared to be a dark storage room and forced him to his knees, restraining both of his arms.

They had found everything.

The camera, of course, as well as the phone he had hidden.

One of the High Priests seized Lee Tae-seong’s wrist and forced his thumb against the phone’s fingerprint sensor.

Lee Tae-seong struggled, but the man’s inhuman grip held him firmly in place.

After unlocking the screen, the High Priest searched through the phone.

“Well, well. A prosecutor?”

He looked down at Lee Tae-seong.

“Lee Tae-seong of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office.”

Lee Tae-seong refused to let himself be intimidated.

“...You bastard. You’re a climber, aren’t you?”

During his investigation into the Religion of the Heavenly One, he had been stunned to discover traces suggesting that even the Climber Association was entangled with the cult.

The Cult Leader, and now climbers like the men standing before him...

It all but confirmed his suspicions.

“What exactly did you hope to accomplish by sneaking in here like a rat?”

The High Priest clicked his tongue.

“What a pain in the ass.”

Realizing that he might genuinely be killed, Lee Tae-seong hurriedly spoke.

“K-kill me, and your people won’t walk away unharmed either. I told my colleagues everything before coming here.”

The High Priest burst into laughter.

“You really think we’re going to kill you?”

He shook his head.

“Of course not. We’ll send you back in one piece.”

He crouched down until his eyes were level with Lee Tae-seong’s.

“But allow me to give you your first and final warning, Prosecutor.”

“...”

“This is not a game you are capable of playing. Keep your head down and live your life quietly. Try anything else, and there is no telling what might happen.”

His smile widened.

“To you—or to your family.”

Something flickered in Lee Tae-seong’s eyes at the threat.

The corner of the High Priest’s mouth curled upward.

“You cannot even begin to imagine how high the people involved in this go. Making a prosecutor disappear would be nothing to us.”

He leaned closer.

“But if you’re curious, by all means, keep digging.”

At that moment, another voice interrupted him.

“These higher-ups you mentioned...”

The High Priest and the guards spun around in shock.

“Who are they?”

A lone figure stood behind them.

No one knew when he had appeared.

He wore a hood and a mask.

***

I had followed the man after they dragged him away.

They had brought him into what looked like a storage room beside the chapel and started threatening him.

It turned out that the man was a prosecutor.

I listened silently to their conversation for a while, then released Concealment and stepped into view.

“These higher-ups you mentioned...”

Everyone turned toward me in alarm.

“Who are they?”

The High Priest stared at me.

“...Who the hell are you?”

I did not answer.

The bewildered guards charged at me.

I brought each of them down with a few light, casual strikes.

The instant the last guard hit the floor, the High Priest lunged at me as well.

Judging by the movement, he had activated Leap.

Bang!

I caught him by the forehead and slammed him into the wall.

Gently enough not to kill him.

“Kuagh...!”

Subdued.

I turned toward the prosecutor.

He was staring at me with his eyes wide and round.

“You’re the prosecutor?”

“...Y-yes.”

“I’m on your side. Relax.”

Still looking dazed, the prosecutor nodded.

I shifted my attention back to the High Priest, who lay groaning on the floor.

Judging by the way he had spoken, this was not merely an ordinary cult.

Something much larger was entangled with it.

Enough.

There was nothing more to see here.

It was time to bring this farce to an end and hear the truth directly from the Cult Leader himself.

I wanted to know exactly how deep this went.

I reached into Subspace and pulled out a mask.

It was equipped with a built-in voice modulator—the same mask I had kept in Subspace as a precaution ever since the Wang Kai incident.

I removed my hood and hat, then pulled the mask down over my entire head.

“Come with me.”

With that, I walked out of the storage room and returned to the chapel.

Slam!

I threw the doors open.

Every eye in the room immediately turned toward me.

I strode toward the podium where the Cult Leader stood.

Every guard who tried to stop me was knocked aside with a light, effortless blow.

“W-what? What is this?! Stop him!”

The Cult Leader pointed at me with a trembling hand.

The remaining High Priest who was a climber rushed forward as well.

I seized him and hurled him aside just as easily.

With all the guards unconscious and no one left to stand in my way, the Cult Leader looked utterly bewildered.

I continued toward him.

“Y-you... Who are you? Why are you doing this?”

The Cult Leader stumbled backward, one step at a time.

“D-do you know who I am? I am the Representative of Person123!”

His voice rose into a panicked shriek.

“What are all of you doing?! Believers, quickly! Stop this man...!”

I raised one hand and fired Destruction Ray.

A tremendous hole was blasted clean through the chapel ceiling.

Hiss...

The murmuring and confusion that had filled the room vanished as though it had never existed.

Even the Cult Leader, who had been screaming in my face only moments earlier, now stared at me as though he had seen a ghost.

Then, from somewhere in the crowd, someone whispered:

“P-Person123...?”

One believer suddenly dropped to their knees and pressed their forehead to the floor.

A moment later, people all around them began frantically doing the same.

One after another, they knelt and bowed their heads before me.

A dry laugh escaped my lips.

Then I turned my gaze back to the Cult Leader.

“H-hiiik...!”

His face as pale as a corpse, the Cult Leader collapsed backward onto the floor.

I looked down at him.

Every trace of confidence had vanished from his expression.

His face was utterly devoid of life.

“I don’t recall ever appointing someone like you as my Representative.”