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 [Chapter 190]

[Unable to Feel at Ease (2)]

Eun-ha sought detailed information.

In June, the Mana Religion will hold a soul-returning ceremony to honor the souls of those who died in the Seoul invasion.

Of course, they say people can come to honor the souls of those who died for other reasons too.

And they ask people to attend regular services as often as possible until then to prepare for the soul-returning ceremony...

Even without Twenty-five's help.

He could understand just by grasping the trends of the Mana Religion that moved its base to Yeouido.

On the other hand, although the news of the Mana Religion's soul-returning ceremony was less enthusiastic than in the previous life, it still attracted people's attention.

I need to check if it's really just a simple soul-returning ceremony or not.

To this end, Eun-ha decided to infiltrate the Mana Religion's regular service himself.

It was something only he, who had experienced the behind-the-scenes of the soul-returning ceremony in the previous life, could do.

Even so, it wasn't easy for him, known publicly as <Crimson Wing>, to infiltrate.

Moreover, since he was being cursed a lot among Mana Religion believers...

As Iriya established the Eun-ha God Religion.

The Mana Religion was now proclaiming the Eun-ha God Religion as heresy.

Of course, to normal people's minds, the Mana Religion and Eun-ha God Religion were the same.

Anyway, he had to hide his identity to infiltrate the Mana Religion.

It would be really nice if I could change into someone else using the principle I got from Baek Myeon-sang...

There was a principle that helped hide his identity.

Baek Myeon-sang's principle, Doppelganger.

But there was a serious problem─

─To transform into another person, you have to 'eat' that person.

It's quite a troublesome principle to handle.

Although Doppelganger's versatility was excellent, the price to pay for it was quite beyond common sense.

Even Eun-ha couldn't eat people like Baek Myeon-sang did.

In the end, he had to be satisfied with just creating an avatar based on his memories.

So he looked for another method.

─Disguise.

Disguise using makeup and artifacts.

It was the conclusion he reached after much deliberation.

To this end, Eun-ha called Bong Gu-rae, who was skilled in that area.

"So you want me to... disguise you so you're unrecognizable? That's my specialty. Should I do female drag? You might stand out because you're tall, but that has its own charm..."

"Do it normally, normally. So I don't draw people's attention."

"Alright. Come here. To think the day would come when I get to touch your face like this, I'm so happy. Now, close your eyes."

"Please. Don't do anything weird."

Bong Gu-rae's touch was meticulous.

Called over, he had brought quite a lot of tools.

Eun-ha, who didn't know much about makeup, just left his face to Bong Gu-rae.

"─Why are you wearing makeup?"

"Min-ji, what brings you here?"

"Honey, don't move your lips."

"Peep peep peep pa pa pa poo poo poo!!"

"Yes, you want me to do you too, right?"

Then Kim Min-ji, who came to the office, saw him.

She made a face as if she understood.

Soon she showed interest.

"I'm good at putting makeup on others. You should have asked me to do it. Gu-rae, where's the blush? I'll help too."

"Eating Min-ji, you just go."

"What are you saying. I'm telling you I'll make you pretty? Just be grateful."

"Alright... Just don't do anything weird."

"Honey, if you move your lips one more time, I'm going to steal them?"

"..."

Kim Min-ji joined in too.

Eun-ha, who was in the middle of getting his makeup done, soon answered in a resigned tone.

Then he straightened his upper body.

Sometimes I think Bong Gu-rae isn't just a concept, but real.

Strangely, his instincts were telling him to be careful of him.

Eun-ha didn't object to Bong Gu-rae and obediently followed along.

Meanwhile, that day Eun-ha selected people to infiltrate the Mana Religion with him.

Bong Gu-rae, Kim Min-ji, Iriya.

It was quite a suitable personnel selection for this infiltration mission.

"─No Eun-ha! It's unfair to leave Ariel out of such a fun thing! There'll be big trouble if you leave me out!?"

"Be quiet, just get your disguise done."

Lastly, one whiner.

There was no other telepathist with spare capacity besides her.

Eun-ha sighed.

☆

After the Seoul invasion, the Mana Religion lost its influence in Jung-gu.

The fame of the Pandora Clan and <Crimson Wing> in Jung-gu was that great.

Moreover, Iriya left the order, and the 1st generation leader of the Mana Religion at the time passed away from chronic illness.

So the Mana Religion moved its base to Yeouido with the determination to reform.

"─They must have a lot of money. Building a cathedral on land overlooking the Han River and Gangbuk."

"It must mean the fervent believers offered up all the money they had."

Yeouido Mana Religion in Yeongdeungpo-gu.

Eun-ha, disguised as an ordinary person, looked around.

The others did the same.

Among them, Kim Min-ji marveled at the many people visiting the cathedral even on a weekday.

She realized anew that the Mana Religion was still going strong, even though its influence had weakened.

This must be why some people say religion is opium.

Or it means there are many people in the world with wounded hearts...

Until he met Iriya.

Eun-ha had denied religion itself.

But he came to acknowledge that religion also has positive functions.

The believers of a certain pseudo-religion who visited the Pandora Clan hall every weekend always left with very peaceful faces.

It plays a role in soothing the minds and bodies of wandering people.

"Let's go in now. We'll investigate what's happening inside once we're in."

"No Eun-ha! Can't I take off my hat? It's stuffy covering my ears..."

"No, you can't. Keep wearing it until I tell you to take it off."

"Tch, you're really too much."

But the Mana Religion hadn't improved.

It was because what he suffered from the Mana Religion in his previous life was so great.

And there were quite a few people among Mana Religion believers who had radical and extreme thoughts.

The soul-returning ceremony was like that too.

Anyway, it was a religion he couldn't feel at ease about.

Soon Eun-ha joined the line of people entering the cathedral.

"It doesn't seem like there's anything strange on the surface..."

Entering the cathedral.

Long benches were placed on both sides based on the center aisle.

Kim Min-ji muttered quietly.

She quickly scanned the surroundings and sat on a suitable bench.

Ariel followed and sat down quickly.

There doesn't seem to be anything strange, as Min-ji said.

Eun-ha thought so too.

On the surface, it didn't seem different from an ordinary cathedral.

In fact, Eun-ha didn't expect to find anything strange right after entering.

His purpose was the soul-returning ceremony, not exposing the Mana Religion as a pseudo-religion.

To begin with, in a world where gods don't exist, the Mana Religion was considered a pseudo-religion by sane people.

It was then.

"─It's just sad."

"What is?"

When they had just sat down comfortably.

Iriya, who had quietly followed him and sat next to him, said.

Unlike usual, she was disguised to be as far from the image of <Saint of the Order> as possible, with her ears openly exposed.

With black eyes instead of green eyes, she glanced at the people once.

Then she sighed deeply and answered Eun-ha.

"People who submit to a conceptual god, yet fail to recognize the Lord who is so present in the world."

"..."

"One could say it's a person's freedom to believe in whatever god, but... To think they can't believe in the Lord... Don't you think so too, Lord?"

Iriya trembled.

She sought agreement in a tone dripping with regret.

Eun-ha didn't answer.

He still couldn't get used to her reaction of revering him as the Lord.

My religion... no, our religion must really be made up of good people?

The person who's the leader and saint is in this state, so...

Eun-ha felt disgruntled.

Come to think of it, the eyes of the pseudo-religion believers he encountered at the clan hall were almost the same as hers.

"Just in case I'm saying this."

"Yes, Lord. I'll listen carefully. If the Lord pities those people, I can reveal my identity and proselytize right here..."

"That's enough, stay still. And you're not thinking of preparing something like a soul-returning ceremony, are you?"

"A soul-returning ceremony? I could do it if needed, but if the Lord says not to, I won't."

"Don't. Don't do such things."

It's the Lord's revelation.

Iriya's eyes sparkled and she nodded vigorously.

Yes, these guys are weird too, but at least they listen to me.

Eun-ha sighed.

It was fortunate that Iriya was obedient.

Still, he decided to stay away from religions that worship him as much as possible.

"But many things have changed compared to when I was here."

"What? Where?"

Meanwhile.

Iriya withdrew her passionate gaze and changed the topic.

"There."

"Where?"

"You see above the altar?"

"You mean that podium?"

"Yes."

She pointed with her mouth.

Eun-ha raised his head.

Above the altar.

Raising his gaze further, the emblem of the Mana Religion was drawn on the wall.

A picture that seemed to symbolize the sun.

It must be the symbol of the Mana Religion.

While Eun-ha dismissed it as unimportant, she didn't seem to.

"The symbol of the Mana Religion is three pairs of white wings meaning the Mana God. Similar to the three pairs of red wings of the Eun-ha God Religion."

"Come to think of it, I did see such an emblem in the underground church of the clan."

"By the way, the divine beast of the Eun-ha God Religion is the fire chicken currently hiding in the Lord's clothes. The fire chicken sometimes attends services in place of the Lord and receives the love of believers."

"Peep peep peep pa pa pa poo poo poo!"

The fire chicken popped out from inside the clothes.

Eun-ha hurriedly stuffed the fire chicken back inside his clothes.

"You stay inside."

"Poo poo."

"Don't complain that you don't like my smell. Just bear with it for a moment. You stand out too much."

"Fire chicken, want to come to me if it's okay?"

"Peep peep! Pa pa!"

"Hide inside mommy's chest. The clothes are loose so it won't be noticeable and less stuffy."

"...Don't indulge the child too much. It'll become a habit."

"Our divine beast won't do that."

"My familiar does."

"No, right? Divine beast?"

"Peep peep!"

"See?"

"...You take good care of the fire chicken then. Let's continue our conversation."

The fire chicken that went into Iriya's bosom.

Eun-ha decided not to care.

Then he decided to listen to the rest of her story.

From what he heard, not only the symbol of the Mana Religion, but several parts had changed.

The pictures and phrases arranged inside the cathedral, things like that had subtly changed.

Among them, the most noticeable was the symbol of the Mana Religion.

Iriya explained.

"The symbol changing... They probably changed it because it overlapped with your religion's symbol."

"What do you mean our religion. It's the Lord's religion."

"Anyway."

"That could be the case... But symbols can't be changed easily. Moreover, since the Mana Religion has a longer history, they would have told the Eun-ha God Religion to change, not change themselves."

"You're right... There would be pride issues too. Then why did they change the symbol?"

"That's what I'm saying. Hmm, I should probably go out and find a Mana Religion pamphlet. There might be a reason for the symbol change too. Ah, no. There's a Mana Religion bible here."

"What will that show?"

"Of course. Even in the Lord's religion, the bible has the whole process of the Lord's birth and growth written in it, right?"

"...How do you know that?"

"I asked your mother. When I met her before, she even showed me albums? I saw pictures of the Lord naked too... Your wee-wee was so cute."

"I feel like your level of expression has gotten higher lately, somehow?"

"Huh? Is that so? I'm not sure, maybe I caught it from Meiling, Meirin. A lot of risque expressions come out when I'm with those two."

"You're bragging. Shouldn't someone called a saint be more careful with their words?"

"The Lord will forgive everything."

"Your Lord is right here now?"

"You'll forgive me, right?"

"I won't."

"Please give me your grace too."

"Don't suddenly change the topic."

"Don't you think it would be really great if I received grace from the Lord in a religion that's not even ours? Like realizing faith and love steadfastly even while being oppressed by heathens..."

"The twins have ruined a person..."

"Ah, here it is. It says they changed many things as a sign of being reborn anew after coming to Yeouido."

In the middle of putting on a strange skit.

Iriya stopped flipping through the Mana Religion bible.

She spoke while tracing the text with her finger.

"It says the symbol changed to the sun for that reason too. And because the Mana God descended with the sun on its back, the sun became the symbol..."

"When did the Mana God ever descend?"

"That's like asking whether God exists or not. We just have to believe it's so."

"Alright, let's say that's the case. Then is there nothing else written about why the symbol changed besides that? Where did they sell their pride?"

"Ah, wait a moment."

Nonsense.

Eun-ha snorted.

In contrast, Iriya read through the Mana Religion bible quite seriously.

Then she frowned.

"...All of this is deeply related to Iriya's fall. Iriya fell due to being entangled in impure mana, and the Mana God blamed himself. To this..."

"...Don't read such things. Stop reading."

"Just a moment, Lord. There's something more written below this."

"..."

"Thus, the new religion Iriya established is clearly heresy. The Eun-ha God she follows is nothing but idolatry imitating the Mana God..."

"Hey, stop reading. Why are you trying to read things cursing you and ruining the mood?"

"Lord, it's not like that. People in the world are ignorantly trying to slander the Lord. We said in our bible that we acknowledge other religions' freedom, so how..."

"..."

"How dare they insult our Lord... Even if it's a religion I once belonged to, this is too much. I should formally protest next time."

"...So that was the reason."

"What do you mean that was the reason. This is blasphemy against the Lord!"

Not because they cursed her.

But because they cursed the god she believes in, she was angry.

Eun-ha realized Iriya's anger and smiled bitterly.

But it wasn't bad.

☆

The mass began.

 The leader climbed onto the altar and expounded the doctrines of the Mana God to the people.

Of course, Ariel wouldn't be interested in the doctrines of the Mana God.

"Min-ji, I'm so sleepy. I feel like the Eun-ha God Religion is more fun. They even let me sing hymns there."

"If you're sleepy, lean on my shoulder and sleep."

Ariel yawns.

Min-ji lent her shoulder to her while observing people's gazes.

Their gazes were all on the leader on the altar.

Whisper of the Night

At that moment.

Kim Min-ji dropped her hand with the ring down.

Mice popped out from the ring.

She gave orders to the mice without looking at them.

Squeak squeak!

The mice sounds weren't heard by people over the mass sounds.

The tiny mice scattered.

Investigate the Mana Religion thoroughly... Why is No Eun-ha so suspicious of religious organizations?

She had a lot she wanted to say about No Eun-ha's instructions.

But he wouldn't tell her anyway.

So Kim Min-ji, who had spent a lot of time with him, put aside her questions and faithfully carried out the instructions.

Soon she touched the necklace artifact made by Byeok Hae-su.

Cat's Eye

An artifact made from a Chungmu-grade treasure.

The artifact allowed her to share the vision of the mice she summoned.

Furthermore, it gifted her the ability to see well in darkness and detect hidden magic or traps.

Hmm... The underground is suspicious.

Why is there concealment magic there?

Then Kim Min-ji found a dubious part.

3rd basement floor of the Mana Religion.

There was a room there.

The room, which looked unusually large compared to other rooms, seemed to have magic installed so that only authorized people could enter and exit.

It was suspicious that such a door existed in a religious organization.

I should tell Eun-ha later.

Soon Kim Min-ji stopped activating the artifact.

The good thing about obtaining Cat's Eye was that she could get information from the mice in real-time.

It saved her the trouble of having the mice return with information and deliver it to her.

Above all, it allowed her to be entangled with the mice as little as possible.

☆

Kim Min-ji discovered something.

When the mass ended.

Eun-ha gathered with the clan members in one place to talk.

"I want to know what's in there, but how can we check?"

"It's impossible with my magic. It seems unauthorized people can't enter through the iron door."

Kim Min-ji shook her head.

Eun-ha fell into thought.

It seemed like there was something in the room Kim Min-ji found.

But it wasn't easy to enter.

They would have to break the magic.

If that happened, they would be caught by the Mana Religion people.

I'm worried about the gaze of darkness... Should I come later with Twenty-five?

Twenty-five might be able to find a gap in the magic without being detected.

Should we retreat like this?

Eun-ha's thoughts were leaning that way.

It was right then.

"─I think I can do it. Will you leave it to me, honey?"

"What?"

"Without even needing to enter the door, can't we just ask someone who can access there?"

Bong Gu-rae boasted confidently.

He explained the plan.

Eun-ha decided to follow it.

"Alright, good. Then Ariel and Iriya, you two stay here, and the rest of us will go down. You two catch people and find out about the soul-returning ceremony."

There wasn't much preparation for the soul-returning ceremony.

It was just lighting candles and having a moment of silence.

Therefore, Eun-ha's gaze was focused only on the underground.

He snuck down to the 3rd basement floor with Bong Gu-rae and Kim Min-ji.

"Is that the door?"

"Yes. That's it."

"Then it would be better to hide here and ask someone passing by."

The three moved quietly.

Hiding their appearance at a corner, the three waited for someone using the iron door.

And a little while later─

"─Someone's coming."

""...""

Someone came out from inside the iron door.

It was a man.

Bong Gu-rae immediately came out from the corner and approached the man.

"Excuse me..."

"This is off-limits to non-authorized personnel, how did you get in here?"

"I came to attend mass but ended up getting lost..."

Whether the man expressed doubt or not.

Bong Gu-rae didn't care at all and acted like he was lost.

Then he licked his lips.

For a moment, the red lips shone.

"─By the way, could I know what's inside there?"

Demonic Lipstick

An artifact used by <Madam > Bebe.

Previously, Eun-ha had been contemplating who to give her artifact to.

He thought about giving it to Kim Min-ji.

But Kim Min-ji refused.

She said─

'─Well... I think it's better to give such artifacts to someone who can utilize the element of surprise.'

'Element of surprise?'

'Think about it. Let's say one day a prettily dressed woman suddenly approaches a man.'

'You're not pret-'

'Shut up if you don't want to get hit. Then is he so handsome?'

'...'

'Anyway, continuing the story, if you were that man, how would you think about a woman suddenly approaching? Do you think you'd be foolishly entranced by a beauty?'

'If it were me, I'd be suspicious. Wondering why she suddenly approached me.'

'Right, spy operations like in movies don't happen easily. People are wired to be wary when someone they've never met before suddenly approaches them in an unnatural situation. The honey trap is a bit of an old trend now.'

'So?'

'But think about it. If a man approaches first instead of a woman, would you think it's a honey trap? And if he doesn't look burly, would you be wary?'

'Hmm... But if the target is a woman, she would be highly wary of men...'

'But there are exceptional men too.'

'What kind of men?'

'Men who won't harm me.'

'Hmm....'

'Let's take Gu-rae as an example. The secret to Gu-rae easily becoming friends with women he's just met is that women judge at a glance that Gu-rae won't harm them. There's no need to try to look good.'

'Gu-rae would be sad if he heard that.'

'Gu-rae would rather like it? Anyway, there's someone among the clan members who breaks down wariness regardless of men or women, so there's no need for me to use it. But thanks for thinking of me.'

'You're saying to break away from cliches... Is that the element of surprise?'

'That's right. Think about it. Who in the world would think a man would use a honey trap to seduce another man?'

It was truly an absurd thing to say.

But Kim Min-ji spoke with conviction.

Eun-ha reflected her opinion and passed the lipstick to Bong Gu-rae.

And Bong Gu-rae had been excellently fulfilling that role.

Moreover, since Bong Gu-rae usually wore makeup, it wasn't seen as strange for him to wear lipstick.

It was a great element of surprise.

"What's inside is..." 

"Yes, what's inside?"

The man couldn't help but let his guard down.

At a glance, Bong Gu-rae just looked like a man who liked dressing up.

Unless he was holding a rifle.

Except for being tall, Bong Gu-rae even had a somewhat delicate image.

So the man didn't think he was a player.

As a result, the man was brainwashed by Bong Gu-rae at the sudden timing.

His mouth gaped open.

"Various magic books for studying mana studies and things to be used in the soul-returning ceremony..."

"What things to be used?"

Bong Gu-rae became bolder.

Realizing the man was completely entranced.

He pushed the man against the wall.

The so-called wall slam.

Bong Gu-rae continued trying to make the man open his mouth.

It was then─

"─What are you doing here? This area is off-limits to outsiders..."

""""...""""

The iron door opened again.

Someone appeared.

A woman with brown hair.

As if reminiscent of Iriya once, the woman was wearing a nun's habit.

She ruined the mood.

"If you're lost, I can guide you out. You people in the corner too."

""""...""""

With a peaceful smile.

She introduced herself as Shin Yeon-su.