The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 110

The Satan worshipper creates incidents, then observes people who are caught up in the incidents and panic. This has been true for every incident the Satan worshipper has caused so far.

Today, when the clergy began fighting due to black magic, the Satan worshipper was watching the situation through the eyes of crows. Even when new magical beasts appeared in Eden Garden, he was observing our actions through the eyes of the magical beasts.

He watched with apparent enjoyment as we pushed each other to become bait for one another.

The Satan worshipper is enjoying this. He’s feeling ecstasy watching people struggle in the palm of his hand.

On the day Go Jun-min transformed into a demon species, the Satan worshipper was watching the entire situation from the scene.

He attempted to flee as soon as his location was discovered by me. At that time, I couldn’t fully utilize Bosu’s power, and moreover, the Satan worshipper was incredibly fast on his feet.

I ended up losing him.

When the dogs in the stable transformed into magical beasts and attacked us, Gu Jun-hyeok ran away. He was extremely fast when running away. Even the Satan worshipper and Gu Jun-hyeok had similar builds.

To summarize, the reason I suspect him of being the Satan worshipper can be expressed in one word...

[It’s just intuition. All the evidence you’ve laid out are leaps of logic. Or complete nonsense.]

Legba continued. He seemed displeased.

[Without any solid proof, you’re deciding who the Satan worshipper is based on intuition, then adjusting the evidence to fit your conclusion. You must be feeling this yourself.]

"Student, when making deductions, always have the habit of setting a conclusion first and then fitting evidence to match it. It’s called confirmation bias."

Suddenly, I recalled the advice Noah had given me in the ark’s illusion. I had decided Gu Jun-hyeok was the Satan worshipper and fitted evidence to match that conclusion.

The Satan worshipper handles taxidermy. There’s a possibility he used taxidermy with a similar build to Gu Jun-hyeok. Therefore, having a similar build cannot be evidence that he’s the Satan worshipper. The same goes for being fast at running.

Most importantly, when the dogs in the stable transformed into magical beasts, Gu Jun-hyeok went to the faculty office to fetch So Do-jin.

If it hadn’t been for Gu Jun-hyeok, the students might have been more seriously injured, or even died. If he were the Satan worshipper, there would be no reason to go to the faculty office to fetch So Do-jin.

’...This is driving me crazy.’

Even so, I keep thinking Gu Jun-hyeok is the Satan worshipper. There’s no proof. I just keep feeling suspicious of him. Then is there circumstantial evidence? No, even the circumstantial evidence isn’t clear. There’s circumstantial evidence that Gu Jun-hyeok is the Satan worshipper, and conversely, circumstantial evidence that he’s not.

Even today’s incident was like that. The mad woman used as a medium for the Satan worshipper’s black magic was Gu Jun-hyeok’s mother.

No matter how much of a Satan worshipper he might be, would he be crazy enough to carve black magic on his own mother’s body? No, if he’s a Satan worshipper, he might. Rather, to avoid suspicion, he might have used his mother to create the incident...

[If you think like that, there’s no end to it.]

It was Legba who cut off my thoughts. He was right. There was no end to thinking like this.

I had no idea what level of intelligence the Satan worshipper had, or what he was thinking. In such a situation, deduction was meaningless.

"...What don’t you understand?"

Then, Gu Jun-hyeok frowned and asked. I stared silently at his furrowed face. There was no sign of lying in his eyes.

If that was acting, Gu Jun-hyeok possessed acting skills equal to or greater than mine.

"No... I just have some things to think about."

I shook my head and vaguely brushed it off. Gu Jun-hyeok, who had been tilting his head in puzzlement, belatedly nodded as if understanding and opened his mouth.

"Right, you must be tired. Anyway, are you busy after school tomorrow?"

I planned to finish revising Seong Ha-yeon’s proposal tonight or tomorrow morning. I didn’t have any particular schedule after school.

"I don’t have anything tomorrow."

"Then let’s take Jeong In-ah and eat together. Since I’m grateful, I’ll treat."

"...Jeong In-ah?"

"She’ll probably complain again about us hanging out without her and feeling left out. Since I’m paying anyway, it doesn’t matter, right?"

If he was treating out of gratitude, it would make more sense to invite Seong Ha-yeon rather than Jeong In-ah, but it didn’t seem necessary to point that out.

It didn’t matter who he invited, and if he had to invite someone, inviting Jeong In-ah would be better than Seong Ha-yeon.

"Alright, then I’ll contact Jeong In-ah now..."

"No, no. I’ll do it."

"Really? Oh, alright then."

Gu Jun-hyeok’s tone was unusually firm. I couldn’t tell why.

Everyone has reasons for their actions. However, there were sometimes cases where Gu Jun-hyeok’s actions had no reason, or the reason was unknowable.

That’s why I found him suspicious, but there was no proof that he was the Satan worshipper. There wasn’t even plausible circumstantial evidence.

The reason I readily agreed to his proposal to meet tomorrow was because I thought he might reveal evidence during our meeting. I planned to analyze his every word, expression, and gesture to look for anything that could serve as evidence.

After giving a casual greeting to Gu Jun-hyeok, who seemed to be contacting Jeong In-ah, I set off on my way. In my head, the faces of Gu Jun-hyeok and Yeo Min-seo alternately came to mind.

I was also suspecting Yeo Min-seo besides Gu Jun-hyeok. The reason she dumped the task of revising Seong Ha-yeon’s proposal on me didn’t sit well with me.

The reasons she couldn’t revise the proposal herself were "being busy" and "not being able to distinguish sentences." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

However, like me, she wasn’t attending academy. Yet she always pushed work onto others claiming to be busy. Perhaps she had work to do as a Satan worshipper after school.

[Aren’t you intentionally ignoring evidence that contradicts your conclusion again?]

"..."

Yeo Min-seo was a student directly involved in planning the Satan worshipper detection work. If she were a Satan worshipper, there would be no reason for her to show such an active attitude toward the detection work.

If the Satan worshipper had split personality as the faculty suspected, then deduction would be meaningless from the start.

"This is really driving me crazy..."

[This too might be the Satan worshipper’s scheme.]

"Ah... That’s right."

Making me suspect Gu Jun-hyeok and Yeo Min-seo, thereby inducing division, might be the Satan worshipper’s plan.

I didn’t think he would calculate that far, but it wouldn’t hurt to consider it.

[There’s one point you’re overlooking, but it would be better for you to realize it later.]

"Can’t you just tell me now?"

[...]

Legba closed his mouth. It meant he had no intention of telling me. I gave up and turned around.

I briefly stopped by Florence to visit the chairman’s office, but heard from the secretary that the meeting was taking longer than expected and it would be difficult to meet him yet, so I returned to the chapel.

It seemed I would have to give up on entering the Central Library today.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, it was early morning. I could hear clattering sounds from the kitchen. When I went out, Uncle was doing dishes wearing rubber gloves.

Kang Ji-ah was sitting at the dining table drinking coffee while occasionally checking her phone. Looking closer, it was stock charts.

"...Cult Leader, you woke up early."

Kang Ji-ah looked up while flipping her phone over. As always, her tone was calm and dry. I pointed to the flipped phone and opened my mouth.

"Do you trade stocks too, noona?"

"Teacher suffered a big loss this time, so I decided to do it instead of Teacher until the losses are recovered."

Uncle glanced over here like someone who had committed a crime. I glared at him. Uncle subtly turned his head toward the sink and continued washing dishes.

"Originally stocks are something where you sometimes lose... And Ji-ah, you shouldn’t exaggerate like that. Honestly, it wasn’t that big a loss, was it?"

"Cult Leader, let me tell you exactly how much Teacher lost. Precisely..."

"Hey! ...Sorry, sorry. I was wrong."

Uncle hastily cut off Kang Ji-ah’s words. Just how much did he lose to act like that...

I thought about probing a little but decided against it. The fact that Uncle was leisurely doing dishes meant he was confident he could recover the losses anytime.

If he wasn’t confident about recovering the losses, he would have been doing manual labor from early morning, gathering every penny he had and didn’t have. That’s the kind of person he was.

"Are you going to school?"

Kang Ji-ah sighed and changed the subject. When I nodded, she continued.

"You seem to be leaving early today."

"I woke up early, and I have things to do in the morning."

"I see... By the way, there’s a record of you visiting the Holy Knight Order yesterday. What did you go there for?"

Kang Ji-ah asked as if it had just occurred to her. Her face was still expressionless, but there was a hint of worry in her eyes. I smiled lightly and opened my mouth.

"Don’t worry. I went there for good reasons."

"That’s a relief. Did the Holy Knights not suspect you? If their attitude toward you was rude, or anything at all, please tell me..."

"That won’t happen. The commander there really likes me..."

Eastern Holy Knight Order Commander Han Dae-ho favors me greatly. It seemed he was trying to build goodwill in advance to recruit me into the Eastern Holy Knight Order.

Since there was nothing bad about building a relationship with Han Dae-ho, I was trying to maintain good relations for now.

Clatter.

Then, Kang Ji-ah took something out of her pocket and handed it to me. It was a rosary. Not just one, but two.

"These are arm-type rosaries. If you keep them, they might help avoid suspicion. I received them as gifts from dBP Chairman Bae Jeong-hwan last time."

"Ah, thank you. But I don’t think I need two."

"If you wear two, couldn’t you avoid suspicion twice as much?"

Kang Ji-ah asked innocently. I didn’t think wearing two rosaries would let me avoid suspicion twice as much, but since she was giving them to me, I decided to accept.

I put one on my arm right away and put the other in my pocket. The design wasn’t excessive and was appropriate, so it seemed like it wouldn’t stand out even if I wore it regularly.

[To others, you’ll look like a devout Romanica believer. Though it’s quite uncomfortable from my perspective.]

"Can’t be helped."

I appropriately pacified Legba’s grumbling and went to school. The first place I headed upon arrival was the chairman’s office. I planned to get a Central Library access permit from Kim Chang-won.

"I’m sorry, the meeting hasn’t ended since yesterday..."

"What kind of meeting goes on for so long?"

"I only know it’s an important matter, nothing else..."

The secretary bowed apologetically. According to the secretary, the meeting that had continued since yesterday evening was still ongoing this morning. I really couldn’t understand what kind of important matter required an all-night meeting.

"This is frustrating."

[Frustrating indeed.]

When I muttered my vexation to myself, Legba repeated it.

To revise Seong Ha-yeon’s mess of a proposal by today, I absolutely had to enter the Central Library. I also planned to research information about Florence and the Satan worshipper entirely in the Central Library, but all my plans were ruined because I couldn’t get a permit from the chairman.

I also tried the vice-principal and principal’s offices, but like the chairman, they were absent. I didn’t have personal relationships with the vice-principal or principal anyway, so it was uncertain whether they would readily give me a permit. Since Satan worshipper detection work was currently in progress, they might not look favorably on students entering the Central Library.

"..."

I picked up my phone.

* * *

Breathing sounds, the sound of metal hitting metal, and fast-tempo music. In a place where all these sounds mixed together, they were each doing their own exercises.

Kang Dae-man, who had always been famous as a gym ghost, and Kim Jin-seo, who had recently been training her body with a murderous schedule, were at the gym exercising from early morning.

"Hooo!"

In the middle of their workout, Kang Dae-man’s fighting spirit cry was heard. Kim Jin-seo slightly frowned and put wireless earphones in her ears. Then she resumed exercising. Even with the music turned up to maximum, Kang Dae-man’s fighting cries could still be faintly heard.

Kang Dae-man exercised more diligently than anyone else, and was also good at it. Anyone who had exercised could easily guess how much grueling effort had gone into making his body. Even so, Kim Jin-seo found Kang Dae-man annoying.

"Hooo! Yeahhh!"

Because those damn fighting cries kept breaking her exercise flow.

Moreover, once Kang Dae-man occupied a machine, he would use it for about 20 minutes without rest, so if their exercise routines overlapped, she had to give up exercising that day entirely.

"..."

But he does work hard...

Kim Jin-seo kept her mouth tightly shut and steadily did squats while looking at herself in the mirror.

Despite the weight on her shoulders reaching 130kg, her form was flawless, and her face didn’t even show signs of strain. For her, this level was hardly heavy enough to call heavy.

"Whew."

As she finished her set and was catching her breath, a call came in. Checking the caller ID, she opened her eyes wide and carefully answered the phone.

"Hello, yes."

This was the first time he had called her first. Strangely, her breathing was more labored when answering the phone than when exercising.

"Yes, I’m exercising. Why?"

Kim Jin-seo calmly answered his greeting while catching her breath. At the same time, she was worried whether her voice sounded strange.

After various formal preliminaries, when his voice through the earphones finally brought up the main point, clear signs of confusion appeared in her eyes.

"...Now?"