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Chapter 300

Therefore, it was so surprising to her that Sung Yu-Da had set the password for the lock as her birthday. She felt strange. Ha-Yeon shook her head to clear her thoughts and opened the drawer.

Drrk!

“...”

As soon as she opened the drawer, Ha-Yeon grew speechless. There was nothing inside. Rather than housing something important, the drawer was filled with dust. Ha-Yeon couldn’t help but let out a smirk, feeling empty as she looked at the dusty drawer.

Of course Sung Yu-Da wouldn\'t have set Ha-Yeon’s birthday as the passcode for an important drawer. He didn\'t love Ha-Yeon that much, nor was he that foolish. Ha-Yeon nodded in understanding, yet she felt a strange and uncomfortable sensation. She even considered the possibility of the drawer having a false bottom. However, Sung Yu-Da was not a person who would have used such an obvious trick.

Before she was about to give up, Ha-Yeon checked the bottom of the drawer just in case.

“...”

To her surprise, the drawer indeed had a false bottom. Lifting one floorboard revealed a pile of dusty documents and a notebook. Maybe Sung Yu-Da might not be as smart as she thought after all.

Carefully, she pulled out the documents and notes from inside. Ha-Yeon examined the documents first. They seemed to be records of some research. Her face gradually hardened as she read through the records.

"Voo...doo...”

The documents were research papers about Voodoo magic. More specifically, it was research on how Voodoo magic power could be integrated with Romanican divine power. Ha-Yeon\'s hand trembled as she held the documents.

Sung Yu-Da\'s name and the name of Do Myung-Jun, the Second Cult Leader of Voodoo Cult, were written on the documents. Countless thoughts and assumptions raced through her mind.

Why did Sung Yu-Da have research records related to Voodoo magic? When she thought about it, Sung Yu-Da and Do Myung-Jun were similar in age. The Voodoo Cult and the Romanican Church were on good terms before the Holy War. The two might have been friends. Or maybe they just met briefly for research purposes.

Sung Yu-Da had once been praised as one of the few geniuses within the Romanican church in his prime. It wouldn’t have been surprising if he had collaborated on research with the leader of the Voodoo Cult.

“Hmm?!”

What surprised her was not the research documents but the dusty notebook. As soon as she opened the notebook, dust covered Ha-Yeon\'s face. It was not just dust. A purple mist-like substance emanated through the air. The mist seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite place where she had seen it before.

"Cough, cough!"

Coughing violently, Ha-Yeon opened the notebook. Sung Yu-Da\'s handwriting filled every page, leaving no margins. The writing seemed to be obsessive and compulsive. Sung Yu-Da\'s handwriting was neat yet difficult to read due to the lack of spacing between the characters.

Ha-Yeon coughed and read the characters calmly. Most of it was unreadable, with sentences that she could recognize few and far between.

"Pope. Romanican Church. Lee Seh-Hwa... Lee Seh-Hwa? Holy War. X. Underground prison. Do Myung-Jun. Do... what?"

Ha-Yeon\'s face froze as she quietly read Sung Yu-Da\'s writing. Cold sweat formed on her forehead. Her eyes trembled rapidly from side to side as she continued to read. Her hands shook. Her body slowly went limp as she lost strength.

Thud.

The notebook she held hit the floor.

Ha-Yeon bent down to pick it up but plopped down on the spot instead. The notebook contained the mysterious names of Lee Seh-Hwa and Do Myung-Jun. These two were linked to a category called the Voodoo Cult. Do Myung-Jun was linked to the name Sun-Woo. Ha-Yeon knew what this meant.

***

"X has been apprehended."

Sung Yu-Da did not respond to me and quietly nodded.

Yesterday, I asked Jin-Seo about her director’s whereabouts. Jin-Seo seemed hesitant for a moment but eventually gave me an answer.

X, who had been drinking with a woman in a somewhat shady bar, was apprehended on the spot. At first, X resisted me fiercely.

"D-do you know who I am?"

"Yes. You are the Director of the Northern Crusader Order, right? I have some questions to ask, so please come with me."

"Y-you little brat. How dare you...!"

X drunkenly swung at me, but I threw him to the ground. I thought the Northern Crusader Order Director would have a bit more resilience, but he passed out after I slammed him once.

The crusaders drinking with X stood up unsteadily, wielded their weapons, and approached me slowly.

"Which faction do you belong to? Who gave you permission to do this!"

"I’m a member of the Central Paladin Order."

With that, they suddenly turned docile.

I told them that my business had nothing to do with them and asked for their cooperation in arresting X. The other crusaders quietly gathered their belongings and left without a word.

I handed X over to the Central Paladin Order. X was currently under arrest and investigation.

The crimes that X had been accused of so far were embezzlement and corruption. However, it would be difficult to imprison X in the underground dungeon with just these charges.

"Well then, we will proceed with the plan to apply the crime of collusion with cultists to X," Sung Yu-Da said.

"But are we sure that we’ll be able to succeed in sending X to the underground dungeon if we can apply the crime of collusion with cultists to X?"

"It will be difficult with just the crime of collusion with cultists. However, considering X\'s status, he could have been charged with treason. So, his imprisonment is almost certain."

I nodded at Sung Yu-Da\'s words.

Sung Yu-Da continued, "Now, Sun-Woo, go ahead and rest. I will handle the rest. Did the Central Paladin Order say anything to you?"

"They did. They were wondering why the new recruit was causing a scene."

When X had been apprehended and handed over to the Central Paladin Order, several paladins from the order had called me.

Why was I so nosy when I was just a recruit? They told me that everyone knew of X’s embezzlement and corruption. Why hadn\'t he been arrested until now? Wouldn’t there be a reason for that?

I could sense anxiousness in their eyes. They had received money from X. In other words, they were in cahoots with X.

Instead of reprimanding me, the head of the Central Paladin Order encouraged my actions.

Sung Yu-Da nodded in agreement. "It won\'t be long. Once X\'s collusion with the cultists and treason charges are revealed, things will quiet down."

After his allegations of collusion with the cultists were revealed, all clergymen would keep their distance from X. Otherwise, they might be suspected of the same charges.

Anyway, everything else was now under Sung Yu-Da\'s jurisdiction. He would add appropriate charges to X, and after X was imprisoned in the underground dungeon, I would start to move.

A moment of silence passed in the research lab. Sung Yu-Da tilted his head slightly, looking somewhere. He seemed to be thinking about future plans.

I glanced around and saw a locked drawer containing the photos of my parents and Sung Yu-Da. I pointed in that direction.

"What about Ha-Yeon?"

"..."

Sung Yu-Da hesitated to respond even after hearing my question.

Soon, with a visibly hesitant expression, he answered, "It seems like she’s opened everything, both the research papers and the notebook."

“How did she react?"

"I\'m not sure yet. She hasn’t approached me yet," Sung Yu-Da said.

I nodded. Originally, Sung Yu-Da\'s notebook was the only item in the drawer. He used it as a diary for eight years after stepping down from his position within the cardinals’ hierarchy after the Holy War.

I instructed Sung Yu-Da to put my father\'s research records in the drawer. I engraved the \'memory annihilation\' and \'curse of fainting\' spells in Sung Yu-Da\'s notebook so that the spell would be activated once the notebook was opened.

If Ha-Yeon had seen the research records and notebooks in the drawer, she would have found out that I was the leader of the Voodoo Cult. At the very least, she would have realized that I had some connection to the Voodoo Cult.

Denying the facts would be pointless for her as she would have sensed her blood as a clan member repelling the purple mist unique to the Voodoo Cult. However, she wouldn’t try to report to the Holy See that I was the Cult Leader of the Voodoo Cult.

The Holy See would also investigate Sung Yu-Da the moment she reported me. She knew this. Even if she had figured out my secret identity, she could do nothing.

Ha-Yeon had to know my true identity and my relationship with Sung Yu-Da. She had to know what Sung Yu-Da had done to me and the Voodoo Cult. And she had to feel a great sense of betrayal toward me and Sung Yu-Da.

"After this incident, Ha-Yeon will completely lose interest in me. She probably won\'t even speak to me. She won\'t even think about trying to interfere with our work."

Ha-Yeon would have been curious about my relationship with Sung Yu-Da. She would have tried to uncover our relationship and, in the process, intentionally or unintentionally could disrupt our plans. Therefore, it was better to reveal my true identity to Ha-Yeon. I had to tell her the bitter truth to quench her dangerous curiosity.

"I still don\'t know if it was the right decision. Whether telling Ha-Yeon the truth is really okay..." Sung Yu-Da said, looking down in anguish.

"We can’t keep hiding the truth from her. She would have found out eventually... It\'s better for her to feel betrayed in advance."

Whether it was betrayal toward Sung Yu-Da or me or even betrayal and resentment towards Ha-Yeon herself... It was better to feel it in advance.

With those words, I left the research lab without a formal farewell.