Chapter 157
Heaven’s Door (23)
***
The nun who ran the orphanage sponsored by Jeokhwa, occasionally traveling back and forth to calm the mental contamination symptoms of Yeon Jeongmun.
Contrary to the old lady’s claim that she must have met a gruesome end due to the mutation outbreak, the nun in the photograph stood on the altar before them, untouched, not even a hair out of place.
Now, she was the leader of a suspicious cult, offering prayers underground, where a strange smell lingered.
Lee Hyun looked around.
Everyone in the room was holding the same kind of ornament as they prayed.
A cross, with the upper part extending longer, giving the appearance of being upside down.
And in his memory, the same ornament had hung around Yeon Jeongmun’s neck.
It was obvious who had given it to him, even without seeing it.
The implications of that were clear.
The downfall of a prestigious family. Behind the horrific incident known as the Jeokhwa Incident, it was none other than that woman’s influence at play.
“Saints of Heaven’s Door. Have you been keeping your bodies and minds pious?”
There was no response, but the woman continued speaking, completely unbothered.
“I hope you’ve been enjoying your happy dreams to the fullest. The kind of dreams you never want to wake from, the kind you want to stay in forever. That way, your brains will have matured even more richly.”
The woman glanced at the attendants lined up below the platform.
They bowed their heads immediately and left the chapel, covered in black drapes, disappearing into the sewers.
“Now, let’s pray. Until the angels’ feast is over…!”
The woman clasped her hands together in a posture full of reverence.
“The center where all paths converge signifies our unity. The branches extending toward the heavens represent our ascension. Thus, we shall open the gates of heaven and step through, where eternal life awaits you…”
“Amen.”
“Ah, amen…”
The woman continued her lengthy sermon.
Jin Yeseo, unknowingly, found herself following along with the choir that filled the hall.
Then, feeling slightly embarrassed, she glanced at Lee Hyun beside her and whispered.
“So, what’s the plan?”
“If possible, we’ll capture her alive. That’s the only way we’ll be able to extract any information. Of course, if things don’t go as planned, we’ll have to kill her.”
Lee Hyun, who had been staring at the platform in a prayerful posture, added.
“…Either way, we’ll have to cut off both her hands, not just the right one. Whether we capture or kill her.”
This was the woman who had brought down even the head of the Jeokhwa family.
Though her true identity remained unknown, there was a possibility she was using some kind of interference system mental magic that had yet to be revealed.
After all, new and bizarre forms of black magic were being discovered every day. It was possible that the interference magic Yeon Jeongmun had displayed also originated from her.
If it was magic, then cutting off her hands would be a simple way to neutralize her.
Only the hands, among all parts of the body, can draw the complex magic circles made of lines and dots.
“As if it’ll be that easy…”
“Shh.”
Jin Yeseo was about to make a puzzled expression.
Sensing something keenly, Lee Hyun motioned for her to be silent.
-Thud… Thud…!
The moment Jin Yeseo clasped her hands again and pretended to pray, heavy footsteps began to echo, shaking the ground.
Those footsteps gradually approached the hall through the sewers. Jin Yeseo could soon sense the presence of something unknown.
-Grrr…
-Sss, thud. Sss, sss…
A low growling sound, like that of a predator. A squelching sound, like something slimy crawling along the floor.
Before long, those sticky sounds spread throughout the hall.
And one of them began to approach where Lee Hyun and Jin Yeseo were seated.
‘What… what is this…’
A creeping sense of unease. And soon after, something heavy landed on Jin Yeseo’s shoulder with a thud.
She couldn’t begin to guess what it was behind her.
Even recalling the contents of the Bestiary, she had never encountered a creature with such characteristics.
It didn’t stop at simply placing its weight on her. Slowly, something slithered forward.
Jin Yeseo’s trembling eyes glanced downward.
Thick, elongated, grayish-white.
Several enormous tentacles, resembling those of a mollusk, were coiling around her upper body.
***
“Hiiik…”
Jin Yeseo bit her lip, barely suppressing the scream that threatened to burst out. But even that slight movement caused the tentacles to twitch.
Then, they began to explore her body even more aggressively than before.
Jin Yeseo couldn’t endure the situation any longer. Tears welled up in her eyes, ready to spill over.
At that moment.
One of the tentacles brushed against the cross ornament she was holding in her hand.
It was the item Lee Hyun had given her in advance.
-Grrr…
The grayish-white tentacles paused, examining the ornament for a moment. Then, as if nothing had happened, they withdrew from her and quickly slithered away.
“Haa… Haa…”
Only then did Jin Yeseo release the breath she had been holding, her exhale mixed with a few tears.
She turned her head to look at Lee Hyun beside her. He was already watching her, gripping the blade hidden in his coat.
With a voice tinged with slight resentment and sorrow, Jin Yeseo spoke.
“W-Why didn’t you… sniff… help me when you saw that…”
“…I was going to, if it looked like it was going to eat you. But since it just backed off after exploring…”
“…”
It was rare, but his voice carried a hint of apology.
Jin Yeseo glared at him with tear-filled eyes before turning her gaze away.
After all, what he said wasn’t wrong.
“Ugh…”
“Ugh…”
-Crunch, crack…
-Crunch, crunch…
Before long, a strange feast began. Sporadic screams echoed from all around, piercing their ears. It was a sharp sound, like someone biting into a thick candy.
Yet, the people gathered in the hall remained in their prayerful postures, showing no reaction whatsoever.
Zing.
Suddenly, an unpleasant sensation crawled up Lee Hyun’s arm, and he glanced sideways.
At some point, Jin Yeseo had tightly grabbed his wrist.
“…”
Her hood and upper body were covered in a sticky, unidentified slime, her eyes bloodshot, tears pooling at the corners, and her body trembling like a baby bird caught in a storm.
Jin Yeseo was a mess.
Lee Hyun, about to say something, gave up and turned his gaze forward again.
More than anything, it seemed that even Jin Yeseo herself hadn’t realized that she was holding onto his arm.
-Sss… Sss…
-Splash!
The sound of something being dragged away, followed by the heavy plop of something falling into the sewer, echoed in succession.
-Thud! Thud!
The strange presences that had filled the room gradually disappeared, following the path of the sewer.
Lee Hyun recalled the direction in which the sewer water had been flowing when they first arrived.
He had a feeling he knew what that candy-crunching sound had been.
And perhaps, even the source of the headless corpses that kept surfacing in Section A every day.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m… sniff… I’m fine.”
Jin Yeseo swallowed her tearful breath and gritted her teeth. Her hand was still gripping Lee Hyun’s wrist tightly.
“…I’ll kill them. To think they would dare humiliate me like this…”
She muttered, glaring at the woman standing on the platform, her voice filled with anger.
“But what were those things earlier? Did you see them?”
“I didn’t get a good look either. Just a vague shape…”
“Are they monsters? Are they secretly raising high-risk monsters in the sewers? Feeding people to them?”
“No, they weren’t monsters.”
Lee Hyun shook his head with a complicated expression.
“I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. Creatures covered in tentacles… What in the world…”
He turned his gaze back to the woman on the altar.
The nun was still speaking, a gentle smile on her face.
“This time, there are many who have been chosen by the angels. Does that mean they are more flavorful? Or have the angels simply grown too large? They are certainly growing quickly, but…”
“Angels? She’s calling those monsters angels?”
Jin Yeseo spoke with a disgusted expression.
“That’s horrifying. She’s out of her mind…”
“Let us pray for the saints who have become one and ascended. Together…”
The woman, clasping her hands, muttered a prayer and then lifted her head.
“Now. Today’s service ends here. And… there’s a special gift prepared for the saints today.”
The nun smiled brightly and clapped her hands once.
Soon after, there were sounds of movement behind the black curtain.
Lee Hyun quickly recognized them. Judging by their uniforms, they were officers from the Security Bureau.
Their expressionless eyes were just like those of the people seated in the hall.
They carried in a bundle and threw it onto the altar-like platform.
It wasn’t difficult to figure out what that bundle was.
A mustachioed pig.
It was the branch chief of the Security Bureau they had spoken to earlier, who had been boasting so confidently.
Given the situation, Lee Hyun thought he might have been killed, but surprisingly, the man was still alive.
His mouth was gagged.
“Mmph! Mmph! Mmmph!”
“A mage…?”
“It’s a mage…”
Murmurs began to spread among the people who had been sitting motionless.
Their dull eyes were now clearly focused on the fat man laid down on the altar.
Their voices grew increasingly hostile.
“Yes. He is a mage. The one who has oppressed and persecuted you, monopolizing all wealth and honor.”
“Mmph! Mmmph!”
The woman glanced at him and spoke.
“This man was caught plotting to raid our sanctuary. How tragic…”
Then, she pulled out a small dagger from her robe. Though blunt and stubby, it was sharp enough to tear through flesh. In fact, it seemed more suited to inflicting pain than delivering death.
“How can a person be so wicked? Trying to take even the last refuge of the poor. Naturally, he must pay the price for his sins, right?”
“Mmph! Mmmph!”
“Come forward, everyone… and stab him once with this dagger. So that he can feel the weight of his sins through his suffering.”
The man’s face turned pale as he heard the nun’s sorrowful voice.
***
“He wasn’t on the run, he was captured?”
Jin Yeseo muttered as she watched the scene unfold.
“What are we going to do?”
“…We have to help him.”
Lee Hyun paused for a moment before answering.
“I don’t like him, but… right now, he’s the only one who can help us.”
He gripped the handle of the blade hidden in his coat.
“Now’s our chance. The attendants and monsters are all gone. We’ll capture the nun and rescue the branch chief, then get out of here. It seems like there’s another exit behind that curtain.”
“…Got it.”
“When I count to three, we’ll rush out. I’ll take care of the woman. You handle the officers and free the chief.”
Jin Yeseo nodded, her resolve firming at Lee Hyun’s words.
The two of them began manipulating the particle array to draw out a magic formula.
“One, two… three.”
At Lee Hyun’s signal, the two of them, their bodies enhanced, dashed toward the altar in an instant.
Before the woman could even turn her head, Lee Hyun swung his blade, severing both of her arms. Thud, thud. The sound of two objects hitting the ground followed immediately.
-Thud!
Then, in one swift motion, he struck the nun’s nape hard, and she collapsed to the floor without even a scream.
“…Phew.”
Having finished his task with ease, Lee Hyun turned his head to the side.
Jin Yeseo had just finished knocking out the officers and was untying the gag from the branch chief’s mouth.
The fat man, his face full of gratitude, bowed his head repeatedly toward the two of them.
“Oh, thank you, thank you… How can I ever repay this debt…”
“Hey. Didn’t you say you were a mage? How does it make sense that a mage got captured by regular officers?”
“Well… I was drunk and fell asleep… and they took my particle array device…”
But as Jin Yeseo’s sharp voice scolded him, the man immediately shrank back.
“What the hell…”
“Enough. Let it go.”
Lee Hyun stopped the furious Jin Yeseo for a moment and spoke to the branch chief.
“Do you remember how you got here?”
“Yes, yes! I do. These idiots didn’t even bother to blindfold me. I guess they were planning to kill me right away… Damn bastards… After all I did for them…”
He spat curses at the officers lying on the floor.
“Good. Then please guide us out of here. We’ll escape together.”
Lee Hyun turned to Jin Yeseo and said.
“You take the lead. I’ll carry the nun and follow behind.”
“…Got it. Let’s go right now… Wait… behind you!”
Just as Jin Yeseo nodded, she suddenly froze, her face filled with shock as she looked over Lee Hyun’s shoulder.
Lee Hyun immediately turned to check behind him.
The nun, who had collapsed on the floor, was now standing, silently and without a sound, staring at him.
There was no trace of anger in her expression. In fact, the gentle smile on her lips remained unchanged.
What was even more bizarre was that her arms, which had clearly been severed earlier, were back in place as if nothing had happened.
On the floor, the nun’s severed arms still lay, as if they belonged to someone else.
Sensing something terribly wrong, Lee Hyun sprang into action. His instincts screamed at him, warning him of the danger. He quickly revised his plan. Capturing her was no longer an option. She had to be killed here and now.
His blade moved faster than a blink, plunging straight into the woman’s heart. The solid weight he felt confirmed that the blow had hit its mark.
But the woman didn’t move. Instead, the smile on her face only deepened.
“What the hell…!”
Realizing something was terribly wrong, Lee Hyun tried to pull his blade out. But it wouldn’t budge, as if something inside was holding it in place.
The woman, with the blade still embedded in her heart, began walking toward him. The blade had pierced through her back, but she didn’t seem to care.
She reached out with her newly reformed hands and grabbed Lee Hyun’s face.
“…How fascinating.”
Her clear eyes were filled with curiosity.
Then, as if intrigued, she smiled softly and pressed her lips to his forehead.
-Smooch.
And just like that, Lee Hyun froze in place, standing as still as a statue.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
***
-…Ah!
“…”
A small boy lying in bed tossed and turned. In his sleep, he was savoring the sweet comfort of a soft pillow and cozy blanket.
-Hyun-ah…!
“Mmm…”
“Lee Hyun! Didn’t Mom tell you to get up! Are you going to keep being lazy!”
The sound of angry footsteps approached.
And at the sound of a commanding voice right in front of him, the boy buried under the blanket opened his eyes wide.
“How old are you, and you’re still sleeping in! Huh!”
“Uh, uh…?”
The boy let out a confused groan and quickly looked around.
A creaky bed, an old ceiling, a slightly chipped window frame. The scene was not just familiar but as ordinary as everyday life.
For some reason, his eyes trembled violently, as if an earthquake had struck.
He bolted upright and immediately turned his head to the side.
And then, he was at a loss for words.
“Mom…?”
End of Chapter