Chapter 35

For a moment, Sanna stared at me blankly. Then she looked to the side again.

“Really, this person is…”

“That’s right.”

“Oh my god.”

Sanna covered her face with her hands.

Through the gaps in her fingers, her eyes were filled with regret.

“I’ve made a huge mistake. A very huge mistake.”

Seeing this, Isaac looked thoroughly satisfied.

“Seer. I’ll be outside, so please call me if you need anything.”

Ending with a joke, Isaac left the drawing room.

Sanna was carefully choosing her words, telling me she was sorry.

I briefly glared at the snickering Isaac as he left, then shook my head and spoke.

“Enough with the apologies. Just tell me why you wanted to see me.”

“About that.”

Sanna scratched her cheek with a troubled expression.

“I believe I can only tell you after confirming that you, Ian, can use Divinity.”

I scoffed.

“You want to test me?”

“I know it’s shameless. The Order is well aware of that.”

Sanna, watching my reaction, took something out from her bosom.

Looking closely, it was a letter stamped with the Pope’s seal.

The general content was mostly just gilding my reputation.

Your fame is spreading across the continent, it’s Lu’s blessing, I’d like to see you once, and so on.

I skimmed through such contents. As expected, the core of it was in the last line.

“You’ve wagered a Holy Relic.”

Even I, who had no interest in this field, knew.

Just how terribly the Lu Order cherished their Holy Relics, of which they only had three.

Even so, there was a reason I didn’t even bat an eye.

“The key part is missing. What kind of job am I supposed to take on?”

That bothered me more than the fact that they offered a Holy Relic as a reward.

Just what kind of monumental task was it that they would offer up a Holy Relic?

“With the abilities I’ve heard you possess, Ian, I believe you can definitely learn Divinity!”

“What exactly have you heard about my abilities?”

“I heard you can freely modify Dragon Language Magic. That’s an achievement even the dragonkin find difficult…”

“Who did you hear that from?”

Sanna sucked in a sharp breath and avoided my gaze. It meant she couldn’t tell me that, at least.

Well, it wasn’t like I was that curious about it.

“Is my life at risk?”

“No. Not at all.”

So my life is safe.

“What happens if I fail?”

“As long as you keep it a secret, nothing will happen.”

There’s no Penalty for failure either.

If that’s the case.

I nodded.

“Alright. Start by teaching me this Divinity thing.”

“When would be a good time for you?”

“Now.”

Instantly, Sanna’s expression brightened.

“The sooner, the better.”

As if she had prepared it in advance, Sanna placed a thick book on the table.

“It’s hard for busy people to make time, isn’t it? Two hours a day, for about three months…”

“I don’t need that long.”

“That’s the standard for people like me. Of course, you’ll learn much faster, Ian.”

She even casually mentioned that the current Pope had learned Divinity in just a week.

It seemed like a cute trick to try and ignite my competitive spirit. But it wouldn’t work on me, at least.

“Begin.”

“Yes!”

And so, two hours passed. In that time, my real-world self crammed the concepts into my head.

“So the key is to create something similar to a Mana Heart on the crown of my head and then receive a higher-dimensional energy.”

“That’s right! In our Order, we refer to it as the upper Dantian. As expected, you understand it perfectly!”

Sanna nodded eagerly.

“We’re not asking for a very high standard. If you could just show us that your upper Dantian has opened…”

I shook my head at her expectant face.

“I can’t.”

“…Pardon? Y-You can’t? Why?”

“Because I already have one Heart in my chest.”

The human body is weak.

If I were to create two Mana Hearts in such a body, it would explode.

Sanna’s shoulders slumped.

“This can’t be happening…”

If you discovered a gold mine after wandering endlessly, only to be told a meteor was about to hit the Earth, you’d probably have that same expression.

Having finished my petty revenge, I waved my hand.

“I think you misunderstood.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m not saying I can’t use Divinity. I’m saying there’s no need to go through such a cumbersome process.”

Divinity wasn’t anything that special.

In the end, if you break down any substance enough, Mana is bound to pop out.

It was just a matter of converting it a little.

So, if I push the Mana in my heart all the way to the crown of my head.

And burst it.

Fwoosh!

A pure white light bloomed at my fingertip.

It wasn’t as bright as the radiance that turned the boss monster to ash last night, but that was just a matter of injecting more Mana.

I gestured with my chin at Sanna, who was staring at my fingertip as if mesmerized.

“This should mean I’ve passed the test, right?”

As if possessed, she nodded her head.

Just as her eyes, which had been trembling as if in an earthquake, gradually calmed down.

I spoke first.

“Now tell me. Why did you make me do this?”

“Right. I didn’t expect to be telling you this so soon.”

Her face became the most serious I had seen in the fortnight I’d known her. So much so that it was making even me nervous.

Swallowing hard, Sanna slowly opened her mouth.

“Saintess Casilla has become a Demonkin. Ian. Please, I beg you to treat her…”

It was then.

Sanna’s continuing words buzzed in my ears.

My mind grew hazy. As if being pulled out from deep water, my consciousness was flung away.

Fwoosh!

I blinked twice, and my senses returned.

My body was lying in bed.

What is this feeling of being cut off mid-shit?

I had felt my body was a bit heavy, and sure enough, my entire body was soaked in sweat.

I threw the blankets and my clothes all into the washing machine and took a shower first.

The cold water helped clear my head a bit.

I was a little curious about what Sanna was going to say, but as always, there was something more important than the content of the dream.

The biggest gain this time was, of course, Divinity.

Fwoosh-!

“Hoo.”

A pure white energy formed at my fingertip.

Only then did my anxious heart finally settle.

It was a type of power whose very concept didn’t exist in this world, so I was a bit worried.

Once the anxiety subsided, my thoughts naturally turned to the Demons.

Demons, Demons.

The first thing that came to mind was Jeju Island.

Han Seung-hoon had said that all the Demons in South Korea were confined there. At the same time, he had added that I shouldn’t even look in the direction of that hellscape.

Are the Demons on Jeju Island really the same as the Demons from that other world?

Vvvvng-

Just as my thoughts were continuing, my phone vibrated.

Thinking it might be Han Seung-hoon, I hurriedly unlocked it.

[Hong Gyeong-pyo]

-Gifticon

I frowned.

What’s this now?

Two days later, on my way to work.

-I’ve explained to the other agents that your Potential Rank is S-Rank.

Head of department Kim Yoon-joong said with a dry cough.

He had called me so urgently on my way to work, and I was wondering what it was about. Realizing what had happened, I nodded.

“Understood.”

-You have no choice even if you don’t like it. The kids need to know what they need to know, don’t they?

Head of department Kim Yoon-joong added, uncharacteristically making excuses.

-It won’t necessarily be a bad thing for you. It’ll probably help you with your work from now on, and there won’t be many downsides.

“Understood.”

-It won’t get to the media anyway.

“Yes.”

As I answered dutifully, Head of department Kim Yoon-joong clicked his tongue in response.

-What’s this? Why this reaction? It makes me feel like I was making a big fuss all by myself.

“Pardon?”

-Weren’t you the type who likes to hide everything? I was so worried because of that. Why are you so cool about it?

“I wasn’t hiding it, I just didn’t know.”

And the times I did hide things were when no one would have believed me even if I told them.

-…I guess so. There’s no way you would have known.

Head of department Kim Yoon-joong said, catching his breath.

-Let’s talk more about it when you get here.

Then the call abruptly ended.

The timing was good. I had just arrived at the Association lobby.

At the same time, I immediately understood what Head of department Kim Yoon-joong had meant.

He had said it wouldn’t be a bad thing for me.

Perhaps that was why I could feel a distinct change in the way people looked at me.

“Oh, Mr. Ki-woong! I saw your initiation ceremony the day before yesterday, it was great.”

An Association employee who used to ignore me even when I greeted him first now tapped my arm and struck up a conversation.

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

“No, honestly, there were rumors going around. People were saying we’d just embarrass the Association by bringing in an F-Rank agent.”

I think you were one of ‘those people.’

“But it was a needless worry. Please teach me a thing or two next time.”

The employee’s eyes sparkled as he said that.

It wasn’t like this even when the Ilseong matter was neatly resolved.

I guess in this world, power really is everything.

Realizing this once again, I headed toward the Training Arena where my team would be training.

Then I tilted my head.

In the lobby cafe, the kids were holding a bunch of things.

Looking closely, there was coffee, bread, and all sorts of desserts. With that much, they could open their own cafe.

As I got closer, the kids were fidgeting with troubled faces.

“What’s all that?”

Choi Soo-jung, who spotted me, let out a huge sigh of relief. Then she spoke urgently.

“We really tried not to accept it! There are already a lot of bad rumors about us getting in through your connections, Oppa, so we were worried it would cause more trouble. We said it was fine, but then someone of high rank forcibly pushed it into our hands…”

The kid was so flustered that I couldn’t make sense of her rambling.

In the end, Kim Soo-gyeom, who was next to her, sighed deeply and summed up the situation.

“A man named Squad Leader Hong Gyeong-pyo gave them to us.”

I clicked my tongue at the name that popped out of nowhere.

What the hell is that man doing, starting from the day before yesterday?

“Don’t worry too much about it. When I see him later, I’ll have a word… no need.”

Because Hong Gyeong-pyo was walking over from the opposite side, holding a cup of coffee.

With a very friendly smile, as if he were seeing a classmate he’d run into by chance.

Before I could even open my mouth, Hong Gyeong-pyo spoke first.

“The weather’s been getting a bit cold lately, so I prepared something warm.”

He then extended his arm toward me.

His complete change in attitude from a few days ago was so drastic it was flustering even for me.

“I can’t drink coffee. I have a weak stomach.”

“…I also have a weak stomach.”

“Is that so? Then it can’t be helped.”

Nodding, Hong Gyeong-pyo moved toward a nearby trash can.

His demeanor suggested that if I said I wouldn’t drink it, he would just throw it away.

So I stared at him with a go-ahead expression.

“……”

In the end, Hong Gyeong-pyo smacked his lips and handed the coffee to a squad member who had come with him.

“It was a gesture of goodwill, hoping we can get along as fellow Squad Leaders. See you again next time.”

“No. You don’t have to bring things like this in the future.”

Hong Gyeong-pyo turned away without any lingering attachment. No, I could see it in my eyes. With every step he took, the lingering desire for me to stop him was dripping from him.

As I stared blankly at him, Choi Soo-jung, who had come back to her senses, tilted her head.

“That… somehow seems like a very familiar tactic.”

Then she looked at me.

Kim Soo-gyeom, standing next to her, shook his head.

“But there are some differences in the details.”

Lee Won-sik nodded as if in agreement.