* * *

“Hey, found anything?”

“No, not yet!”

“Drag over anyone suspicious. Rat or otherwise—if you see it, kill it!”

Agitated voices echoed from every direction.

The cultists were frantic, tearing through the building like hunters scouring for rats.

Every exit was already sealed. No escape route presented itself.

Then, someone called out to Seo Kangrim.

“Ah, Mr. Jeneung! I was wondering where you’d gone off to.”

The cultist who had brought Kim Jeneung greeted him warmly.

Seo Kangrim, who had been about to slip away elsewhere, opened his mouth upon seeing the man.

“They’re searching for an intruder, but it seems nobody’s found anyone yet.”

“Ugh, I know. What kind of wretched scum snuck in this time……”

Despite the intruder standing right before them, the cultists wore generous expressions.

This was because Seo Kangrim had transformed back into Kim Jeneung’s appearance.

He had prepared extra nails in advance, anticipating exactly this kind of situation.

One cultist clapped him on the shoulder and said,

“Alright, let’s keep at it and search harder. It’d be a real problem if they already got out……”

“Yes. I’ll look around.”

Seo Kangrim nodded and feigned searching alongside the others.

While mapping the facility’s layout, he was rapidly calculating his next move.

‘What’s happened to Yoo Harang by now?’

She had tried to shield him, so she was undoubtedly in a difficult position.

Given her status as the Cult Leader, she wouldn’t face severe punishment—but he couldn’t help worrying.

‘She hasn’t returned to this room.’

He followed the others back toward the Cult Leader’s quarters, but no one was there.

It seemed they had relocated her after her position was exposed to Seo Kangrim.

‘Even if I find her, getting her out is the problem.’

Yoo Harang had been brainwashed by Yoo Sunmin and showed no desire to leave this place.

What if Yoo Harang sided with Yoo Sunmin and actively interfered?

‘In my past life, even Ms. Shin Sooa had a terrible headache because Yoo Harang refused to cooperate.’

As he wrestled with how to extract Yoo Harang—

Someone called out to Seo Kangrim.

“Hey, you there!”

It was someone who appeared to be a senior cultist.

As he approached, the senior cultist looked Seo Kangrim up and down and said,

“Well, you look like you could at least do some heavy lifting……. We’re preparing a ritual on short notice and are short on hands. Follow me.”

At the word “ritual,” Seo Kangrim’s eyes turned cold.

For a brief moment, contempt and hatred flickered in his gaze.

‘The ritual was supposed to take place a year from now. My intrusion must have forced them to accelerate their plans.’

After that, the cultist selected a few more capable-looking individuals and led them underground.

“Alright, everyone start carrying the materials.”

Upon descending, Seo Kangrim surveyed his surroundings.

The underground space was far vaster than he had imagined.

The ceiling soared at least a dozen meters overhead, and the area appeared even larger than the worship hall where the service had just taken place.

‘Did they use the cultists to build this?’

Several cultists were still digging at the walls.

Their faces were blackened with dirt, and the grime beneath their fingernails suggested they had been down here for days.

Construction materials and tools were scattered around them.

It looked as though they were in the middle of building something.

“Come on, hurry up and move the materials. Quickly.”

At that command, people began frantically hauling lumber.

In the center of the underground plaza stood a massive wooden tower-like structure.

Its skeletal framework was fully exposed, clearly unfinished.

‘The preparations still seem incomplete, but they intend to push forward regardless.’

As people hauled materials and crudely assembled the tower—

The remaining cultists began filing in under the senior cultist’s orders.

The majority wore expressions of shock or anxiety.

“Where exactly is this place?”

“Did the Holy Grace Cult always have something like this underground……?”

As people glanced around in bewilderment, a heavy thud signaled the doors slamming shut.

The revelation only seemed to deepen their agitation.

“Huh? The doors just closed?”

“W-what exactly are they trying to do……?”

Amid the crowd’s growing panic, a piercing microphone howl cut through the air.

A sound sharp enough to split eardrums.

Then Yoo Sunmin’s voice followed.

“Have you all gathered?”

His voice reverberated through the underground plaza like an echo.

He stood at the summit of the wooden tower.

A height of roughly five meters.

He looked down at the crowd and spoke.

“You all know the stories I’ve been sharing. That one day, a god would come to deliver us all…….”

His gentle voice began to slowly lull the crowd’s expressions into drowsiness.

He continued in an impossibly honeyed tone.

“Originally, we needed more time before the god’s arrival. However, knowing how painful the waiting has been for you, I have decided to move up the schedule. However.”

Yoo Sunmin’s voice suddenly sharpened.

He swept his cold gaze across the crowd.

“However, it seems you have yet to identify the intruder. Whether they’ve fled……or are still hiding among us…….”

The microphone screeched again.

Through the feedback, Yoo Sunmin’s voice carried through.

His cold voice was now laden with the power of a Special Ability.

“Everyone, draw your knives and stab your own arms.”

-Puuk!

The instant the command was issued—

The people moved with mechanical precision, drawing knives and plunging them into their own arms.

No hesitation. Not even a groan.

Blood flowed freely in an instant, and Yoo Sunmin’s eyes locked onto Seo Kangrim.

“There’s a suspicious one over there.”

Simultaneously, hundreds of people turned to stare at Seo Kangrim.

Among this vast crowd, he was the only one who had not obeyed the command.

Amid the stench of blood filling the air, Yoo Sunmin glared at him and said,

“Bring that man to me.”

The moment the order fell, people lunged at Seo Kangrim.

Their faces were expressionless—seemingly impervious to pain despite the blood streaming from their arms.

‘They’ve all lost their minds.’

Just moments ago, they had seemed to retain at least a shred of rationality. Now they were nothing more than puppets.

Killing them all would end this quickly, but the aftermath would be complicated.

As he pushed past the cultists, aiming solely for Yoo Sunmin—

Yoo Sunmin’s magic power surged and took the shape of arrows.

-Kwagwagwak!

In an instant, arrows of magic power rained down on Seo Kangrim from every direction.

For all that he was a cultist, Yoo Sunmin was a formidable ability user in his own right.

Seo Kangrim urgently activated Frost Flame and conjured a barrier of ice.

-Kang, kakang!

The magic arrows struck the ice barrier and shattered into fragments.

The frost barrier formed just as fast as Yoo Sunmin’s rapid-fire volleys.

Frost Flame was both a powerful shield and a spear.

Just as the frost flames erupting from all sides surged toward Yoo Sunmin—

[‘Frost Flame’ is being canceled by the effect of ‘Forced Dispel’!]

The Frost Flame vanished in an instant, like a fleeting illusion.

It was Yoo Harang’s doing.

With even the barrier gone, sharp magic power grazed Seo Kangrim’s leg.

“……!”

Yoo Sunmin’s attacks were relentless and swift.

The moment his thigh was pierced, creating an opening—

The magic power shifted form and began binding Seo Kangrim.

[Special Ability ‘Restraint’ is activating!]

Chains forged from magic power coiled around Seo Kangrim’s body in an instant.

It was Yoo Sunmin’s ability.

If they had been real chains, he could have broken them with brute strength—but these were made of magic power, and his body refused to move.

Even while restrained, he could have fought back with Frost Flame or Ten-Foot Blaze.

But every time he tried to activate an ability, the flame was snuffed out.

Because of Yoo Harang’s Forced Dispel.

“Well done, Cult Leader.”

Despite Yoo Sunmin’s praise, Yoo Harang’s face was dark.

She merely bit down hard on her pale lips.

When her eyes met Seo Kangrim’s, she hastily averted her gaze.

‘If it were just Yoo Sunmin, I could win. But with Yoo Harang cooperating with him, it’s impossible.’

A powerful Special Ability that could cancel out every other ability.

As an ally, there was no one more reliable. As an enemy, she was simply terrifying.

Yoo Sunmin slowly approached Seo Kangrim.

“Your face is different from the one I saw earlier. Did multiple people come in? Or…….”

[Special Ability ‘Physiognomy’ is activating!]

[Cannot use ‘Physiognomy’ as this is not your true appearance.]

When the ability failed to activate, Yoo Sunmin twisted his lips into a smile.

His eyes brimmed with cold hostility.

“So you could transform into a human, not just a beast. Cult Leader, cancel his ability.”

“……Understood.”

Soon, ‘Thief Mouse’ was dispelled, and Seo Kangrim’s true appearance was revealed.

Yoo Sunmin scrutinized his face before speaking in a slightly surprised tone.

“You’re Seo Kangrim. What brings such a famous figure all the way here?”

“…….”

“Did you receive a revelation from the Guardian God? Or perhaps orders from the Bureau?”

Seo Kangrim did not answer.

Reading his reaction, Yoo Sunmin smiled and said,

“You must have called for outside help. But that doesn’t matter. If I kill you here…….”

“Vice Cult Leader.”

Just then, Yoo Harang, who had been standing behind them, interjected urgently.

Her face was filled with desperation.

“Vice Cult Leader. This wasn’t the agreement. Didn’t you promise to spare this person?”

“But his presence will interfere with the ritual.”

“We’re going to conduct the ritual anyway, aren’t we? I will perform the ritual. So escort this person out safely.”

When the topic of conducting the ritual had first come up, Yoo Harang’s eyes had been filled with fear.

But now that she herself declared she would perform the ritual, Yoo Sunmin smiled.

He spoke in a gentle tone.

“I will do as you say. First, though, I need to make him a bit more docile.”

Yoo Sunmin produced something from his coat and forced it into Seo Kangrim’s mouth.

He tried to resist, but his body soon went limp like a corpse.

As Yoo Harang stared in alarm, Yoo Sunmin said quietly,

“He’s merely unconscious from the medication. He’ll wake up on his own in time. Please don’t concern yourself with him anymore.”

If Seo Kangrim used his abilities to run wild, things would become complicated—so sedating him with drugs was the best option.

Once the ritual began, even Yoo Harang’s Forced Dispel would be unusable.

The cultists dragged Seo Kangrim’s limp body back down beneath the tower.

With the disruptor removed, Yoo Sunmin cleared his throat and addressed the crowd.

“Many of you here have lived lives of misfortune. Even when a new day dawned, the blessing of awakening was granted only to a select few.”

The people looked up at Yoo Sunmin.

Behind every pair of eyes lay desperate yearning.

Whether from the effects of brainwashing or like those drunk on alcohol, their gazes were hazy.

“And even among those who awakened, many gods turned their backs on us. We were too weak to be chosen by the divine.”

Yoo Sunmin’s voice spread to every corner of the underground.

His compelling voice carried an infectious quality, like a plague.

At his words, people began nodding or weeping.

“But now, we have a god of our own. Cult Leader Yoo Harang will become our god.”

At those words, several people stared at Yoo Harang with shocked eyes.

As if to say: What kind of nonsense is that?

Observing their reaction, Yoo Sunmin slowly continued.

“Before that, we must discuss how a god is born. Typically, we think of gods as absolute beings…….”

He smiled faintly.

“But there are cases where humans become gods. Ancestor Gods are a perfect example, aren’t they?”

Just as countless historical figures, including Ancestor Gods, had left their names in history and become gods—

Yoo Sunmin slowly approached Yoo Harang.

His gaze was nothing but peaceful.

“In shamanic tradition, there are said to be two primary ways for a human to become a powerful god.”

“…….”

“One is to leave behind such monumental achievements that one becomes an idol to the people. And the second is…….”

Yoo Sunmin gently placed his hand on Yoo Harang’s shoulder.

“To die a miserable death, and accumulate resentment and bitter regret.”

The cultists standing around Yoo Harang like bodyguards were all holding knives.

They appeared to be aimed directly at her.

Yoo Sunmin spread his arms wide toward the cultists and declared,

“Cult Leader Yoo Harang will die for our sake—and become a god for our sake!”