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Chapter 9

“Then, shall we try using the intermediate blessing of strength?”

“Oh.”

“Hm, is there something wrong, Do Sun-Woo?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Oh no. An intermediate blessing when the best I could do was a lesser blessing? I felt the world going dark. Maybe it was because I was nervous, but my forehead started to break out in a sweat and my fingertips started to tremble.

As I was dealing with my anxiety, Bae Sung-Hyun completed his blessing array with outstanding skill. It was undoubtedly a perfect intermediate blessing of strength. His array gleamed with brilliance as if to boast his success.

“Bae Sung-Hyun did a great job. Now please, Do Sun-Woo, draw the blessing array for us.” Ha Ye-Jin pressed me on. I took my shaking fingers and drew the array of the intermediate blessing of strength.

As expected, I failed. The array lost its light and crumbled into ashes. I felt my heart crumble with it as well.

Ha Ye-Jin seemed to be caught off guard and looked at me with a puzzled look. “Um, was that because you were nervous? Try again.”

“I can’t.” I gave up. My body shook, and my heart broke; I couldn’t bear to try again.

Ha Ye-Jin’s face hardened. “And why is that?”

“I can only conjure lesser-level blessings.” Ha Ye Jin’s hardened face turned slightly softer as I told her the truth.

“Hm~ Okay, I understand. I can call someone else, but why don’t we try one last time?”

I spent the whole night yesterday attempting intermediate blessing arrays, but not once was I successful. I knew I would get the same result even if I tried again. However, Ha Ye-Jin told me to give it one more shot, and I could see a glint of hope in her eyes. She saw the possibility in me.

“Alright.” I decided to try to make it up to Ha Ye-Jin. Although I knew I wouldn’t be able to succeed, I decided to put my faith in her.

I soothed my fretting heart and steadily started drawing the blessing array. I inserted the core made with divine power into the complex array woven with dozens of straight and curved lines.

Right afterward, a brilliant, ecstatic light spewed forth from the blessing array. It was the light of the blessing. This meant that I had succeeded in drawing a complete blessing array.

“I-I did i–!” But it was a short-lived moment. The brilliant light of blessing faded away and left a dull blessing array stranded in the air. I had failed yet again.

“...I’m sorry.” I hung my head down. I couldn’t face her, and I was embarrassed that I had celebrated thinking that I had succeeded. It was a disaster.

However, Ha Ye-Jin did not look disappointed. No, she looked surprised.

“Do Sun-Woo, where did you learn to draw your blessing arrays? Was it at an after-school academy? Or maybe by your parents?”

“Oh, I learned by watching videos.”

“Videos? Are you talking about online lectures?”

“No, I’m talking about... YouTube.” The class erupted with giggles. Some laughed because they were making fun of me, while others found me genuinely funny. They must have thought that I was joking, but I wasn’t.

I learned how to draw blessing arrays through YouTube because no one around me knew how to use divine power. I hadn’t been to any of the popular after school academies either.

“So you’ve never been to an after-school academy? And your parents didn’t teach you?”

“Yes, ma’am. My situation, uh, didn’t permit that.”

“I see. You have some bad habits when it comes to divine power. Here, why don’t you try releasing some divine power?”

I did as I was told, releasing some divine power from my fingertips. Ha Ye-Jin suddenly grabbed my hand and used it as a brush to draw a blessing array in thin air. Unlike mine, this blessing array was perfect, without any faults.

“Your first bad habit is the direction you draw your array. I noticed that you drew in the counterclockwise direction when most people draw in the clockwise direction.”

“Oh, huh.” It was common practice to draw circles in the counterclockwise direction in voodooism. It seemed that my habits had carried on my drawing of blessing arrays.

“Your second bad habit is in the process of you creating your core. You have a nasty habit of—”

Ding dong dang dong~

Before Ha Ye-Jin got a chance to finish her sentence, the bell rang.

“Whoops, we’ll pick up where we left off next class. It’s my first class, so I didn’t manage my time well. I apologize!” Ha Ye-Jin smiled as if to say she was sorry. As if waiting to hear that, the students started stretching their limbs. Bae Sung Hyun, who had been forgotten since I had been in the spotlight, had a dissatisfied expression. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and left the classroom.

Ha Ye-Jin smiled at the class and turned her head toward me. “To continue with our conversation, your method of creating your core is fundamentally incorrect. Hm, to be exact, it’s not incorrect, but your approach is problematic.”

“I don’t understand, ma’am.”

“Try to figure it out.” Ha Ye-Jin left the room on that confusing note.

***

As Ha Ye-Jin walked toward the teacher’s office, she pondered what had happened in class. There were a lot of talented students in her homeroom class, the Class of Charity. But three of the students caught her eye.

First of all, there was Bae Sung-Hyun. He had tremendous talent, as showcased in his ability to complete the array of the intermediate blessing of strength in under ten seconds. He was clearly above the average.

The second was Jung In-Ah. She had an eye for analyzing blessing arrays. Her analyzing ability was comparable to any regular teacher. However, her skills were not on par with her analytic abilities. That was unfortunate, but it could be fixed with practice.

Lastly, there was Do Sun-Woo. He scored a perfect mark on the evaluation. His talent for religious studies and history was unmatched. However, he was not used to using divine power.

‘No, it wasn’t that he was not used to it... It was more like....’ To be honest, Ha Ye-Jin could not clearly gauge Do Sun-Woo’s skill level. Way too many things were off in Do Sun-Woo’s blessing array to the extent that she was wondering how this was logically possible.

“Mrs. Ye-Jin, what are you thinking so hard about?” a fellow teacher asked Ha Ye-Jin, who was deep in thought. Ha Ye-Jin was bewildered and looked around. She was in the teacher’s office.

She had been so deep in thought that she hadn’t noticed that her surroundings had changed and had made it to the teacher’s office. Ha Ye-Jin laughed innocently. “I just had a very impressive class.”

“Why, did a student cause trouble?”

“No, it’s nothing like that.”

Ha Ye-Jin looked down and thought for a few seconds.

“Hey, is it possible for the core of a blessing array to have the shape of something other than a sphere or an ellipsoid?”

“Huh? From what I know, that’s impossible. Why do you ask?”

“Just out of curiosity, what happens when the core is not a sphere or an ellipsoid?”

“Hm, I’ve never thought about it. I’m not sure, but wouldn’t the array fall into pieces?”

“That’s what’s supposed to happen, right?” Ha Ye-Jin nodded with a dark expression and looked down again.

“Why do you ask? I’m curious now.”

Ha Ye-Jin responded with a bright grin to the question that her fellow teacher asked. “Oh, it’s nothing.”

“Hey. You always lead people on, make them wonder, and stop talking.” The fellow teacher jokingly pretended to pout. Throughout the conversation, the only thing on Ha Ye-Jin’s mind was Do Sun-Woo. To be more specific, it was the blessing array that Do Sun-Woo had drawn.

A core was not required to complete a lesser blessing array. However, any blessing array with a higher level than a moderate array needed a core when conjured. According to well-established theory, these cores had to be in the shape of a sphere or an ellipsoid. Otherwise, the blessing array would lose its power and disintegrate.

However, the core Do Sun-Woo had drawn was neither a sphere nor an ellipsoid. Instead, if one were to be exact, it looked more like a cube, or something resembling it. This was why Do Sun-Woo had repeatedly failed in drawing an intermediate blessing array.

But, the question was, why had the blessing array emitted light?

Although it was just a moment, Do Sun-Woo’s blessing array had spewed out the light of blessing. This meant that Do Sun-Woo had managed to conjure a complete blessing array, although it only lasted seconds. And this feat was done with not even an ellipsoid core but a cubic core. He had strayed from the norm and drawn his rendition of a blessing array.

‘What is this guy?’

Ha Ye-Jin was intrigued by Do Sun-Woo. It was not only the interest of a teacher looking at her student but also the interest of a researcher of divine power.

***

After Ha Ye-Jin’s class, the classroom turned exceptionally noisy. Everyone\'s faces were filled with excitement and anxiety. I could not tell what was causing all the commotion. “Why is everyone so excited?”

“It’s because our next class is a training class. Everyone is hyped because it’s our first actual training session.” I had just been talking to myself, but Koo Jun-Hyuk suddenly came out of nowhere and answered my question. I would find him next to me sometimes, then gone, and then back at my side again. Maybe it was because of this, but it felt like Koo-Jun Hyuk was always next to me and far away from me at the same time.

“Huh. Do we have training next class? Where is it at?” As Koo Jun-Hyuk and I talked, Jung In-Ah appeared and naturally joined the conversation.

“It’s on the hill that comes up when you go down this path. I’ve heard it’s called Eiden Hill?”

“Oh yeah? Let’s go then.” Jung In-Ah displayed her characteristic drive for action and dragged us out of the classroom.

So us three set off to Eiden Hill that was located behind F.A. The name seemed to pay homage to a specific ‘garden.’

“Hey, Do Sun-Woo. How come you’re so bad at drawing blessing arrays?” Koo Jun-Hyuk playfully started picking a fight. At this point, it felt like something would be missing if he didn’t cause conflict.

“And how good are you? He’s pretty good for learning through videos online.”

“Who even does that? Learning how to do blessings through online tutorials is unheard of! Weren’t you joking?”

‘‘Hey! You be quiet.” When Koo Jun-Hyuk picked a bone with me, Jung In-Ah defended me. I didn’t have to say anything. Usually, this was how our conversations went. Jung In-Ah and Koo Jun-Hyuk argued back and forth and eventually looked at me to find me awkwardly smiling.

“If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I’ll teach you.” It seemed like she thought I didn’t get a chance to use blessings because of poor family circumstances. If one thought about it, she wasn’t technically wrong, but I felt guilty. I was discreetly lying to her.

Of course, this was coming from me, and my whole life was a lie.

“Isn’t it nonsense that the person who placed twelfth in evaluations is teaching first place?”

“Didn’t I tell you to be quiet?”

“Ack.” Koo Jun-Hyuk stressed the word nonsense as if to put extra emphasis on it. Jung In-Ah lightly kicked the shins of the provoking Koo Jun-Hyuk. I just laughed while watching their interaction.

[I realized a few things from class. Two important things. It’s urgent.] Legba suddenly spoke to me. I could hear the urgency in their voice.

However, I couldn’t answer Legba immediately because Jung In-Ah and Koo Jun-Hyuk were next to me. I looked around and spotted a public bathroom close by. F.A. was so big that they had constructed public restrooms for convenience.

“You guys go ahead. I’m going to make a stop at the bathroom.”

“Huh, oh, okay.” I sent Koo Jun-Hyuk and Jung In-Ah off first and walked into the bathroom. It smelled foul, but there wasn’t a better place to talk to a Loa.

[Okay. First of all, you have a bad habit when drawing your blessing arrays. Fix it.]

“That doesn’t seem too important. Why didn’t you tell me later? I thought it was something urgent.”

[No, it is urgent. Usually, all blessing array cores take the shape of a sphere or an ellipsoid. However, you used a cubic core instead. Do you have any idea what this means?]

“Huh? I’m not too sure.”

[Curse arrays use a cubic core. Your habits from drawing curse arrays are apparent through your blessing arrays. Since F.A. teachers aren’t idiots, they’ll have you found out if you carry on.]

I gulped. I did not know I had such a habit.

[When you draw your blessing array, make a spherical core. Then you’ll be able to draw a blessing array successfully.]

“Woah, are you serious?”

I experimented by attempting an intermediate blessing of strength array. I placed the core made out of divine power into the center of the blessing array. The blessing array seemed to emit light for a moment, but then it lost its glow and quickly broke down. To no surprise, I had failed yet again.

“Hey, it’s not working.”

[Huh, as if it would work when you’re still using a cubic core. Use a spherical core.]

However, I could only conjure a cubic core no matter how hard I tried. I didn’t know how to construct a spherical core in the first place.

[Make it a sphere!]

“What?”

[A sphere!]

“How?”

Legba sighed. [It’s clear that you don’t have any talent in using divine power.]

It was impossible for someone like me, who had spent seventeen years drawing curse arrays, to conjure a good blessing array.

[Ha. Okay. We can slowly learn how to conjure spherical cores later on. But now, this is something very important. Listen carefully.] Legba paused dramatically, trying to scare me.

I listened to what they had to say with a serious face—while sitting on the toilet. Very seriously.

[I smelled the stench of blood and sulfur. Just for a second.]

“...Huh?” I thought it would be unimportant, but it was quite the opposite. It was earth-shattering news.

Blood and sulfur were the key ingredients that Satanists used during their rituals. These smells usually rubbed off on them. Legba had smelled blood and sulfur during class. This could only mean one thing.

[It seems that the Satanists have infiltrated F.A., although we don’t know why.]

A Satanist was hiding in F.A.