The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 51

Three days ago, Jeong In-ah left school early and came home. She checked whether the ice cream cake, clothes, and various gifts she had bought yesterday were still in good condition.

Since objects don’t have legs, there was no way they could run away, but she checked just in case.

"Good."

Fortunately, everything was there. Jeong In-ah nodded and muttered to herself. She had been talking to herself a lot more lately. She didn’t know why.

Without even changing out of her school uniform, she immediately left the house and caught a taxi nearby.

"Seoul Eastern, ah."

"Seoul Eastern Holy Knight Order?"

"Just a moment."

Jeong In-ah, who was about to state her destination, suddenly took out her phone to check a text message. It was a message she had read over and over again throughout the past weekend, but she checked it once more just in case.

[Seoul Eastern Holy Knight Order Missing Persons Investigation Team... Currently protecting missing person Jeong Yun-ah, please attend on 3/22 (Mon)...]

She couldn’t focus on details like which floor of the main building the investigation team was on or who the investigator was. Jeong In-ah only paid attention to the words "Seoul Eastern Holy Knight Order" and "3/22 (Mon)."

March 22nd, Monday. That was today. Seoul Eastern Holy Knight Order was also correct. Jeong In-ah nodded.

"Yes. Please take me to Seoul Eastern Holy Knight Order."

The taxi departed. Inside the car, there was a faint smell of cigarettes, overwhelmed by the scent of air freshener.

Whether it was the cigarette smell or the air freshener smell, neither was particularly pleasant to Jeong In-ah. She felt dizzy, so she opened the car window.

Wind rushed past, making a sound like thunder. The scenery flowing by outside the window was too fast to follow with her eyes.

Since it was lunchtime, the roads were empty, with only occasional buses or taxis visible here and there.

"..."

The world was so quiet that she felt as if she had been dropped alone into an empty world with no one else. Familiar scenery looked strangely unfamiliar, making her heart flutter even more.

"Please stop here."

They arrived at their destination quickly. After getting out of the taxi, Jeong In-ah took a deep breath. She felt suffocated and slightly dizzy.

The strong air freshener smell from inside the car seemed to have permeated her body, so she shook herself trying to get rid of the smell. Of course, the smell didn’t come off that way.

The Seoul Eastern Holy Knight Order building was impressively large. It wasn’t as big as Florence, but it seemed to be the largest among all the Holy Knight Orders she had seen so far.

Jeong In-ah swallowed nervously and headed inside the building.

"What brings you here?"

The first to greet her was a somewhat surly-looking male Holy Knight. His tone was as surly as his appearance. He had an attitude as if everything in the world was bothersome.

"Well, I’ve been here a few times before. My younger sibling went missing, but they said they found them this time. I got a call over the weekend..."

Jeong In-ah showed her phone with the text message. Whether from nervousness or anticipation, her heart was beating like crazy.

Her hastily spoken words were choppy, matching the rhythm of her heartbeat. Her head felt foggy, and it seemed like her language abilities had temporarily regressed.

"Ah, that student. Please sit over there and wait for a moment."

The Holy Knight said indifferently.

Jeong In-ah sat quietly and waited. Only a few minutes had passed, but to her it felt like hours or even days.

"Are you student Jeong In-ah?"

"Yes? Ah, yes."

"For identification purposes, your ID card..."

"Yes, I brought it. Here."

The text message had mentioned bringing identification, so Jeong In-ah had prepared her student ID.

The Holy Knight examined the ID card carefully with deeply furrowed eyes. Even that time passed as slowly as an eternity for Jeong In-ah.

"Yes, please follow me."

The Holy Knight returned the student ID to Jeong In-ah and strode toward the corridor. Jeong In-ah followed behind with quick steps.

The corridor was so barren it had nothing in it, with paint peeling off in places, creating an eerie atmosphere. The air was dry. Jeong In-ah forcibly suppressed an urge to cough. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

The Holy Knight walking ahead stopped in front of a door. Jeong In-ah looked at the sign on the door and swallowed nervously.

"Eh. Why, to the interrogation room...?"

Her pupils trembled with agitation.

"Ah, someone is using the VIP room, so unavoidably..."

Someone was using the VIP room, so they had no choice but to use the interrogation room. Please understand even though it’s a bit stark. That was the gist of what he said.

It was somewhat unpleasant, but Jeong In-ah tried to understand.

She wouldn’t be there long anyway. She planned to immediately take her sibling home and have a party with the favorite ice cream cake and various gifts. Thinking that way, it didn’t matter whether it was the VIP room or interrogation room.

Creak...

With a somewhat eerie sound, the door opened, revealing the interior of the interrogation room.

Excitement and anticipation swelled as if about to burst. At the thought that she could meet her sibling with just a few more steps, she naturally smiled.

Her heart was beating so fiercely it seemed like it might jump out of her mouth. Her eyes trembled as if tears might come at any moment, and her throat felt tight.

Thump, thump. With each step, the sound of her heartbeat grew louder.

"Is this your sibling?"

The Holy Knight pointed to a child sitting in a chair in the corner of the interrogation room.

The child’s face wasn’t visible because their head was bowed low. Their arms and legs were emaciated, and their hair was jet black.

"...Just, a moment. I need to see their face."

The child suddenly raised their head.

Their eyes were jet black like their hair, unfocused and hollow. Their cheeks were gaunt, making their angular jaw and protruding cheekbones stand out.

Six months is not a short time.

During that long period, facial structure could change, hair and eye color could change. The mole that used to be below the lips could disappear, or that mole could have moved to the left cheek.

That was certainly possible. No matter how much she tried to think optimistically, trying to believe that, Jeong In-ah’s face only hardened.

"Not, my sibling. No. I think there’s been some mistake. Yes. It seems like a mistake. I think you brought the wrong person."

The child in front of her now was definitely not her sibling.

Yun-ah didn’t look like this. There wasn’t a single resembling feature. The Holy Knight tilted his head puzzledly and shuffled through documents.

"There shouldn’t be any mistake... um. Sorry, but if you could look once more..."

"I said no. I’m telling you it’s not Yun-ah."

"Still, just in case, if you could examine once more, ah."

The Holy Knight glanced at Jeong In-ah. She was crying.

What should have been tears of joy had instantly transformed into tears of despair. The excitement and anticipation that had swelled to the point of bursting finally burst and shattered into pieces.

The broken fragments lacerated her.

"I said no. There’s no way I wouldn’t recognize Yun-ah’s face, so when I say it’s not her..."

"Please, just calm down a little."

The Holy Knight looked troubled, touching the back of his neck as he left the interrogation room. Then he brought back another Holy Knight.

The two Holy Knights had various discussions in front of Jeong In-ah.

She couldn’t hear what they were talking about. Right now, she couldn’t properly understand any words.

After finishing their discussion, the two Holy Knights looked at Jeong In-ah with bewildered expressions.

"Geez, why is she saying it’s not... Hey, student. Are you sure it’s not? Are you certain you looked properly?"

"..."

The Holy Knight who had entered later asked presumptuously.

Jeong In-ah stared at the Holy Knight for a long time with reddened eyes. The Holy Knight seemed to find this situation merely bothersome.

She recalled herself wondering what to do first when meeting her sibling, what to eat, where to go, counting down the days waiting only for today. She mulled over last night when she couldn’t sleep from excitement.

She felt so stupid and miserable that she couldn’t breathe.

"You’re not answering. Are you certain it’s not..."

Thud.

Jeong In-ah, who had been staring at the Holy Knight with reddened eyes for a while, suddenly grabbed his collar. The Holy Knight pulled his head back in surprise.

"Hey, why are you doing this? Let go. I said let go!"

"I said no, how many times do I... If you had conducted the investigation properly in the first place...!"

Jeong In-ah’s body trembled as she spoke. She looked precarious, as if she might explode at the slightest touch.

The Holy Knight frowned in displeasure and swatted away Jeong In-ah’s wrist that was gripping his collar.

"If it’s not, then it’s not. What the hell are you grabbing collars for... Hey! Take this one away."

"Ah, yes. Um, student Jeong In-ah? Please follow me."

The Holy Knight instructed a junior Holy Knight beside him.

Jeong In-ah was led somewhere as if being dragged. Her steps had no strength. Not just her steps, but her entire body had no strength.

She walked like that, swept along like being caught in rapids, not even knowing where she was being taken.

The place they arrived at was a counseling room. Jeong In-ah collapsed into a chair, and the Holy Knight sitting across from her said various things. Those words didn’t reach her ears.

Beep...

Only dry, parched tinnitus circled in her ears. With Jeong In-ah pretending to listen in front of him, the Holy Knight seemed to think this was fortunate and continued his explanation.

"Lately, there are many voluntary disappearances due to pseudo-religions, so missing person cases are usually concluded within 6 months. We’ve been investigating for about 8 months now and haven’t found anything, which means..."

To summarize, the Holy Knight Order had done everything they could.

There was no evidence that the "Voodoo Revival Church" had kidnapped Jeong Yun-ah, and they had to consider the possibility that Jeong Yun-ah had voluntarily joined the religion.

Therefore, further investigation would be difficult. That was the story.

Jeong In-ah neither nodded nor shook her head, just stared blankly into space. She didn’t even have the energy to speak.

She left the Holy Knight Order, caught a taxi, and returned home. Then she slept.

"Ah..."

When she woke up and checked the time, it was 8 AM. Since she had fallen asleep at 2 PM yesterday, she had slept for 18 hours straight.

Her head hurt, and she was so dizzy she couldn’t even get up. Her stomach was churning. Her jaw ached dully. It seemed she had been grinding her teeth all night while sleeping.

"Ah, teacher. Yes. I’m, not feeling well. To the hospital... Yes."

Since she would be late even if she prepared and went to school now, she decided to just go to the hospital and be absent. Her physical condition was too poor to properly attend classes anyway.

Her head was dizzy, and her empty stomach was both burning and nauseating. She collapsed back into bed and tried to sleep again.

Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!

Then she woke up to a sharp ringing sound. A call was coming from her mother.

Jeong In-ah settled her burning stomach, cleared her hoarse throat, and answered the phone.

"Hi, Mom."

"Are you at school?"

"I’m resting today because I’m sick. My stomach is, a bit."

"Really? Are you very sick? Did you go to the hospital?"

"No, no. Later..."

Jeong In-ah looked at the clock. It was 4 o’clock. It seemed she should leave soon before it got any later.

"Mm. I’m about to go now."

"Okay. Get medicine and come back. Did you go to the Holy Knight Order yesterday? How was Yun-ah?"

"Ah... yesterday, that. Not yesterday, today... tomorrow. They said to come tomorrow."

She lied.

"That worked out well. I was planning to come up there tomorrow anyway. Work has been busy lately, and I haven’t seen our In-ah’s face much..."

"Eh? No, it’s okay. You don’t have to come if you’re busy."

"Even if I’m busy, I have to see our In-ah and Yun-ah’s faces. What time did the Knight Order say to come?"

"Um... 2 o’clock or 3 o’clock. But Mom, don’t get your hopes up too much. The Knight Order said it might not be her. It might not be Yun-ah. Yeah."

Her voice was clearly trembling. Unable to tell the truth and spinning lies instead, Jeong In-ah felt a pain as if her heart was hardening. She desperately held back tears.

"What? If it’s not, then it’s not, and if it is, then it is. Which jurisdiction is it? Seoul Eastern?"

"I don’t know. I don’t remember. I’ll go tomorrow and if it’s right, I’ll call you again."

"You don’t have to be so... Okay, then call me and we’ll set a date for me to come up. Make sure to go to the hospital today."

"Yeah. I under... stand. I’ll go to the hospital now."

Jeong In-ah jumped up from her seat.

Suddenly everything went black before her eyes. Gastric acid surged up, and cold sweat flowed, sticking to her hair. Her ears felt blocked. Her legs had no strength, so even her steps trembled.

"In-ah."

Jeong In-ah, who was preparing to go out, flinched at her mother’s voice from the receiver.

"Yes, why?"

"If you miss Mom and Dad, just say so. I’ll come there right away. Tell me if anything happens. You understand?"

"...I’m not a child anymore~ I understand. But really nothing happened. Anyway, I’ll see Yun-ah tomorrow, so what. Anyway, I’m hanging up. I really need to go to the hospital quickly."

Jeong In-ah quickly hung up the phone. Her throat was parched, so she took out cold water from the refrigerator and gulped it down. Then, not long after, she vomited it all up.

The wind coming through the window was clearly warm spring wind, but it felt as cold as winter wind to her.

Jeong In-ah put on nearly three layers of clothing and left the house. Still, she was cold. It seemed her body temperature was low, not the air temperature.

At the hospital, she was diagnosed with stress-induced gastritis.

The doctor told her to fast today and starting tomorrow, eat soft foods like porridge or gruel, or liquid foods. He eased the pain with low-grade healing and prescribed medicine.

"The pain is just suppressed, so you can’t just eat anything. It might recur, so for about 3 days, absolutely rest..."

Healing was effective for surgical treatment but not very effective for internal medicine. Moreover, since it was low-grade healing, the pain didn’t seem to be properly suppressed.

It was definitely better than before, but her stomach still burned and ached.

She returned home and repeatedly slept, woke up, drank water, and vomited it up.

She forgot to buy porridge, so she tried making it herself, but she vomited that too. Her stomach was upset, but more than anything, it tasted terrible.

"Teacher, I’m also today..."

"I’m really sorry, but my condition isn’t good again today..."

She rested for one more day, then two more days.

Several contacts came from Do Seon-woo, Gu Jun-hyeok, and other friends, but she didn’t reply. She didn’t answer phone calls either.

There wasn’t any particular reason. She just didn’t want to answer.

She spent most of her time sleeping and barely ate. When she had time, she tried to make porridge, but she gave up because it was bothersome.

Even when she made it carefully, it wouldn’t taste good anyway, so why bother making porridge? That was her thinking. But she was hungry if she didn’t eat anything at all.

"...Mm. Let’s buy some."

Eventually, she made up her mind to go out. The goal was to go to the mart and buy porridge. She planned to buy about two days’ worth at once.

Looking at her condition, it didn’t seem like she would recover today, and she would probably need to eat porridge for at least two more days.

"Ah."

Just as she was about to enter the mart, she met Do Seon-woo.

At her unconscious sigh, Do Seon-woo looked at her. His eyes were full of suspicion.

Jeong In-ah unconsciously tried to turn around and run away. Between not answering contacts and having fought on Monday, she was somehow scared to run into him.

Splash.

And she fell.

It hurt, but she was too embarrassed to get up.

Just as she was wondering whether to pretend to be dead like this, someone approached with big steps from a distance and tapped her shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

There was no need to see his face. She could guess who it was just from the voice.

She wished she could have just fallen down and died like this.

Jeong In-ah suddenly thought that. Her face was already turning bright red.