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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Silverriver
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What exactly had happened, Lee Ha-yeon couldn’t tell.
Why was she exposed? If she was exposed, since when?
Such questions flashed through her mind, but Lee Ha-yeon didn’t dwell on them. And the moment she intentionally stopped thinking, her body reacted faster than anyone else’s.
-Thwack!!
A surprise kick landed squarely on the Heavenly Maiden’s abdomen. The Heavenly Maiden’s body was sent flying, and Lee Ha-yeon was also pushed back by the recoil. Using that recoil as a starting point, Lee Ha-yeon immediately kicked off the ground and fled.
-Tap!!
Lee Ha-yeon wasn’t a veteran Enforcer. But, she was an Enforcer nonetheless.
The moment she determined that she had to enter a combat situation, her judgment was made faster than lightning. It wasn’t that she was particularly outstanding. It was the minimum requirement for an Enforcer.
‘There are four Knight Order members who came to the audience chamber with her. I don’t know their combat capabilities. But if it’s a breakthrough, not subjugation, I can definitely manage it…!’
In an instant, Lee Ha-yeon ran to near the entrance.
Just as the Knight Order members belatedly tried to block her, a sweet voice flowed into Lee Ha-yeon’s ears.
-Halt.
At those words, Lee Ha-yeon’s feet abruptly stopped.
“Huh…?”
Her body wouldn’t move. No, she could move if she tried. However, her reactions were noticeably sluggish. So much so that she could mistake it for complete immobility.
Lee Ha-yeon’s head turned. The Heavenly Maiden was smiling leisurely, one hand outstretched towards her.
Holy water or more accurately, the Heavenly Maiden’s bodily fluids, had two abilities.
One was the supreme pleasure and hallucinations it bestowed upon the drinker. It was an indispensable ability for the Truth Church’s expansion, but the true nature of the Heavenly Maiden’s bodily fluids was something else entirely.
Its true nature was to control those who drank the Heavenly Maiden’s bodily fluids according to her will.
For ordinary people, simply tasting the diluted holy water was enough. Even Returners could be controlled as the amount accumulated in their bodies. Overlapping with the bodily fluids’ first effect, accumulating the Heavenly Maiden’s fluids within the target’s body wasn’t difficult.
Although in Lee Ha-yeon’s case, she hadn’t drunk enough holy water compared to her power, perfect control was impossible. However, restricting her movements was still entirely possible.
At the Heavenly Maiden’s command, the Knight Order members rushed towards her all at once. Due to her leaden body, Lee Ha-yeon couldn’t react quickly.
She couldn’t…
Even so, there was a fact that absolutely had to be addressed.
“What?”
Lee Ha-yeon, she was an Enforcer.
-Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
“Ugh?!”
Lee Ha-yeon’s fists landed repeatedly on Park Yu-sung’s abdomen, who was the first to rush in.
A barrage of blows at a speed that was unbelievable considering the Heavenly Maiden was restricting her movements. Lee Ha-yeon broke through the encirclement using the gap created by this and confronted the enemies.
“Ha-yeon, don’t resist unnecessarily. You can’t defeat us.”
Hye-sol, creating a sword from divine power in her hand, said to Lee Ha-yeon.
She was truly sincere. She was angry at Lee Ha-yeon for daring to kick the Heavenly Maiden, but on the other hand, she also didn’t want to harm the new recruit of the same age any further.
-Thwack! Thwack!
However, Lee Ha-yeon didn’t even listen. Watching her repeatedly stamping her foot on the floor while ignoring them, Hye-sol sighed and raised her sword.
“I thought we could be friends.”
-Clang!!
At the same time as Hye-sol’s charge, the other members rushed in again.
The members pressed Lee Ha-yeon with their respective abilities. Befitting the grand name of the Holy Knight Order, their movements were incredibly precise and sharp, unbelievable for ordinary people.
That was because they were all Returners.
Although not all Returners were like that, the fact of returning alive was in itself a measure of strength.
The fact that returning alive was possible meant that they had survived in another world teeming with all sorts of dangers.
“Why don’t you just surrender now!”
Moreover, after entering the Knight Order, they had devoted themselves to training every day as the shield protecting the cult and the sword of the Heavenly Maiden. The swords and fists they wielded had become even sharper than when they were in the other world, reaching a level that anyone could call first-rate.
-Thwack!!
“Huh?!”
However, that was only a story at a general level.
An ordinary level of strength that an ordinary Returner could reach through ordinary training.
-Thwack!!
“Huh?!”
With just that much, they couldn’t reach the strength of an Enforcer.
Enforcers were existences who had been filtered and selected from among numerous Returners.
They were those who had stepped into the realm of professionals, literally suppressing and subduing amateurs who were conceited just because they had done a little training.
-Thwack!!
“Tch…!”
Of course, even though Lee Ha-yeon was an Enforcer, she was only a trainee. Furthermore, with her movements restricted by the Heavenly Maiden, even she couldn’t overwhelm four members.
She fought quite well, but that was only because the members were holding back to capture Lee Ha-yeon alive. If the battle continued, it would be Lee Ha-yeon herself who would eventually fall.
That’s why Lee Ha-yeon didn’t aim for victory from the beginning and only looked for one opening.
While parrying the attacks of the enemies rushing in from all directions, Lee Ha-yeon’s two eyes, which had been holding back, finally shone sharply.
‘Now!’
-Thwack!!
At the same time as stamping on the ground, Lee Ha-yeon released the ‘power’ she had stored in her right leg.
Her superpower was the storage and release of power. By releasing the power she had stored by intentionally stamping on the ground a little while ago, her body shot out at a speed impossible for Lee Ha-yeon’s own strength.
“What, now she’s trying to escape…”
Reacting belatedly was too late. She knew the members’ speed perfectly. If she could just get out of the audience chamber safely, they would never be able to catch her.
‘Good, I’m almost there. Just a little more…!’
However.
-Charrrr!!
The moment she reached the exit, chains made of light flew towards Lee Ha-yeon’s ankles.
“!!”
Lee Ha-yeon, who was heading for the exit, hastily changed direction to avoid the chains.
-Charrrr!!
However, several chains flying from all directions quickly blocked Lee Ha-yeon’s retreat. In an instant, chains wrapped around Lee Ha-yeon’s arms and legs, forcibly slamming her to the ground.
-Thud!
“ughh?!”
Enduring the dull pain, Lee Ha-yeon looked back.
The chains of light binding her body were emerging from the empty air behind the Heavenly Maiden. When her eyes met Lee Ha-yeon’s, the Heavenly Maiden smiled and waved at her.
‘What is that…’
Chains of light that flew from that far distance and bound her before she could even react.
What that meant was simple.
The Heavenly Maiden could have captured Lee Ha-yeon at any time.
Even so, did she make her fight with the members to find out her true strength? Or was she simply toying with her?
-Step. Step. Step.
The Heavenly Maiden approached Lee Ha-yeon, who was agonizing, with leisurely steps. Knowing that she couldn’t escape from the chains no matter what she did, Lee Ha-yeon asked the Heavenly Maiden, intending to at least get some information.
“Since when did you know? Could it be from the beginning?”
At those words, Lee Ha-yeon intuitively knew.
Choi Jin-seo, she had reported her identity.
Lee Ha-yeon felt a moment of betrayal, but she soon understood, blaming it on her own carelessness.
Even she, a Returner, had almost become addicted to the holy woman. Choi Jin-seo, a normal person, would have been affected even faster.
She was so focused on not becoming addicted to the holy water herself that she overlooked the holy water’s effects on Choi Jin-seo. That was her carelessness and her misstep.
“Does someone who believes in a god commit crimes so openly like this? Assault, kidnapping, confinement, brainwashing using unauthorized abilities… All of that is heinous crime.”
The Heavenly Maiden looked up at the ceiling, a blissful smile on her face, as if she was truly waiting for that day.
Lee Ha-yeon scoffed at her, unable to understand her at all.
“Just how great is that god Dion that you can’t forget him even after returning to reality safely?”
-Kiiiiiiiiing!!
When the Heavenly Maiden raised her right hand, brilliant golden divine power swirled within her palm. At the beautiful radiance, the members around her each put their hands together, shed tears, and prayed.
-Slice.
The Heavenly Maiden cut her own wrist with a knife and held out her wrist with dripping blood to Lee Ha-yeon. The sweet scent rising from the red blood made Lee Ha-yeon feel like she would lose her mind at any moment.
“I refuse.”
However, Lee Ha-yeon did not yield. Although she felt the urge to simply give in many times, she whipped her weak reason with a sense of duty and justice and declared to the Heavenly Maiden.
“I’m… an Enforcer. I absolutely don’t want to believe in a god who makes his own believers commit crimes.”
-Grab!!
The Heavenly Maiden grabbed Lee Ha-yeon’s cheek with one hand and forcibly rubbed her dripping wrist against her lips. Lee Ha-yeon resisted fiercely, but the thick blood that flowed through the gaps in her lips began to shake Lee Ha-yeon’s reason to its core.
“Heok…! Ah, keu, euheugeueuk…!”
-Glug. Glug. Glug.
With each mouthful of blood that passed down her throat, Lee Ha-yeon felt the ultimate pleasure as if her brain was being fried.
Hallucinations unique to holy water were unfolding in her vision, but her confused mind couldn’t even properly recognize the hallucinations.
As if her whole body was immersed in warm water, a soft sense of floating and pressure pleasantly caressed her body.
-Thud.
Finally, when the Heavenly Maiden took her hand away, Lee Ha-yeon was looking up at her with a blissful expression, kneeling.
“Ah, ahe, he…….”
Even though she had practically made her submit, the Heavenly Maiden continued to ask Lee Ha-yeon. As if there was an important meaning to it.
“I s-swear…….”
As Lee Ha-yeon murmured with a dazed expression, a smile spread across the Heavenly Maiden’s lips.
Ah, how cute. How could she be so lovely?
The Heavenly Maiden always felt a thrilling pleasure run down her spine at this moment.
Someone with strong power and spirit prostrated themselves at her feet and submitted. They realized the greatness of God and swore eternal submission to her, his proxy.
While savoring that fact, it felt as if she could reach her peak without even lifting a finger. With that supreme spiritual pleasure before her eyes, the Heavenly Maiden waited and waited for the declaration of submission to come from Lee Ha-yeon’s lips.
“I s-swear…….”
However, at that moment.
A trace of reason returned to Lee Ha-yeon’s eyes, which were steeped in pleasure and hallucinations.
“…I refuse. I absolutely won’t.”
That one word instantly dropped the Heavenly Maiden’s mind, which had been walking on clouds, to the ground.
“…….”
The Heavenly Maiden glared at Lee Ha-yeon with a ferocious look. However, Lee Ha-yeon had just squeezed out that refusal with the last of her reason.
-Thud.
Lee Ha-yeon collapsed to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut. Since she collapsed while kneeling, it looked as if she was prostrating herself at the Heavenly Maiden’s feet.
However, this was not the scene the Heavenly Maiden had expected. With a voice that dripped with rising anger, the Heavenly Maiden commanded the members.
As she said that, a smile spread across the Heavenly Maiden’s lips again.
Yes, it wouldn’t be fun if she submitted easily. Wouldn’t it also be pleasure and enjoyment to sever her stubbornly resisting reason and chew it to pieces?
The Heavenly Maiden approached Lee Ha-yeon, whom the members had helped to her feet, and whispered in her ear.
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[It’s over.]
Seeing the text displayed on the screen, Choi Jin-seo unconsciously clenched the smartphone in her hand.
It was over.
What was over? Choi Jin-seo bit her lip for a moment in a feeling of emptiness.
It was over for them, but for Choi Jin-seo, it meant that the betrayal she had committed had reached its worst possible conclusion.
[Is Unnie safe?]
[She is safe. We will gently persuade Sister Lee Ha-yeon. Just like we did with Sister Jin-seo.]
A reply came back immediately to the text she sent to shake off her guilt. Choi Jin-seo couldn’t bear to read the message to the end and closed the smartphone screen.
They would gently persuade her, just like they did with Choi Jin-seo.
As that statement implied, Choi Jin-seo’s betrayal was not solely due to brainwashing by the holy water.
While the holy water gave Choi Jin-seo pleasure, it also forcibly implanted faith into her mind through hallucinations. And that faith further amplified Choi Jin-seo’s anxiety while she was infiltrating the cult.
The Truth Church was not an ordinary pseudo-religion. It was a real religion that believed in a god who truly existed in another world.
Was it really right to antagonize such a religion?
Even if it was right, could they win?
The opponent was a powerful god, what could mere human police or Enforcers possibly do?
The anxiety gradually grew, and this soon became apparent. And Choi Jin-seo’s parents immediately sensed that something was wrong with their daughter.
Although they were deeply immersed in the cult, they still sincerely cared for and loved Choi Jin-seo. Their words, asking if she was having any difficulties and saying that they would help her, came from 100% genuine love and concern.
At those words, Choi Jin-seo, who had been driven to the limit, finally broke down.
Choi Jin-seo confessed everything. It was a betrayal of Lee Ha-yeon, but at the same time, it was also an act of removing the false mask she had been wearing in front of her parents.
Choi Jin-seo felt a sense of relief along with guilt. And when the confession finally ended, her parents silently hugged Choi Jin-seo tightly. In their embrace, Choi Jin-seo thought.
If she couldn’t win against the cult anyway. If resisting God was impossible.
Wouldn’t it be much more comfortable and happier to enter under their shadow and prostrate herself?
-Creak.
“I’m home.”
“Oh, welcome home, our daughter! You worked hard studying at school today!”
When she returned home, her mother greeted her with a warm voice. When Choi Jin-seo looked at the kitchen at the spicy scent filling the house, her mother said with a smile.
“I made your favorite curry for dinner tonight, after a long time. Your father will be home soon, so let’s all eat together later?”
“Okay, thank you, Mom.”
Yes, this is enough.
Choi Jin-seo thought so as she looked at the warm scene unfolding before her eyes.
She was aware that she had betrayed Lee Ha-yeon.
Of course, she also felt guilt.
and even now, after betraying her, she honestly didn’t think that the Truth Church was a righteous religion.
However, this was enough.
Rather than trembling in anxiety, constantly worrying about when she would be found out, wouldn’t it be much better to spend happy time with her family like this?
‘This is enough. This is…’
Of course, that happy time was riddled with lies.
‘This is…’
Because soon, she too, like her parents, would come to regard even those lies as truth.
‘Is it… enough…?’
A tear streamed down Choi Jin-seo’s cheek.
Whether it was a tear of joy from relief and happiness, or a tear of regret and guilt from betraying the one who had stood up for her.
In Choi Jin-seo’s messed-up mind, she couldn’t tell the difference at all.
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what will happend to her next?
