Ji Dohwa’s designated role was “a repentant unbeliever.”
“I—I was so moved by the merciful grace of the divine after that day—!”
“Pff—”
“Mmff—”
I could feel tiny tremors beside me and buried my face in my hands, grinding my teeth.
I was curled up, hugging Joo Yeonwoo’s bag to my chest.
Next to me, Chae Saebyeok was kneeling with his hands pressed together like he was praying, head deeply bowed—yet every so often, a tiny pffft escaped him like air leaking from a balloon.
Is it funny?
If we get caught, this is all your fault.
“Were you here?”
“Ah, Yeonwoo-nim.”
“The Cult Leader is looking for the Saints. He said you have an important role in today’s ritual. You should go.”
“Understood.”
Chae Saebyeok vanished the moment Joo Yeonwoo spoke.
And as soon as Yeonwoo sat beside me, I had to cling to him again.
I wanted to die.
“…There’s no more need for us to split up again today, right?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll stay with you the whole time.”
He patted my head.
Just kill me…
Then, like he was whispering sweet nothings to a lover, he lowered his head and murmured:
“Tonight. We should be able to proceed.”
“Will it be safe?”
“Yes. Because they think I’m powerless, they’ve given me a seat right beside the Cult Leader. It’ll likely be the same during the ritual tonight.”
“What exactly is tonight’s ritual?”
“…Monster taming. Well—he first releases the skill binding the monster, then reapplies it. I think it’s meant to show how terrifying monsters are when uncontrolled… and then prove how great the Cult Leader is for being able to tame them.”
“…We should avoid the monsters when that binding is undone. Someone could get seriously hurt. Maybe… target him after the ritual ends, once he’s exhausted…”
“……”
Yeonwoo went quiet, as if calculating something, then smiled faintly.
“I’ll handle the timing. Just be careful with anything you’re offered to eat during the ritual.”
“Eat…?”
“Yes. It seems they use a special white powder—supposedly obtained from this base—during rituals. I’ve already swapped it with the salt I bought, but better to stay cautious.”
White powder other than salt?
The other powder in the shop was… ah.
The stimulant powder.
I didn’t comment, even when he added that he’d had to use up all his salt for the swap.
But I decided one thing very clearly: I definitely needed to tell Saebyeok and Dohwa about this.
Chae Saebyeok, kneeling as if in prayer, was replaying what he’d overheard.
That strange white powder.
The fact that Yeonwoo swapped it with salt, but we should still be cautious.
“So yeah, we need to be careful with anything they try to feed us.”
“…I don’t remember them using any powder before…”
Dohwa tilted her head.
The Cult Leader, who neither hunted nor opened supply boxes, had no way to earn points anymore.
He had already tried to kill Dohwa once to get her “tag,” failed, angered the students, and only barely smoothed their distrust over by declaring her a “saint” after her miraculous teleportation.
So killing someone again risked another revolt—
meaning he had no stable way to earn points at all.
He was completely stuck.
“He didn’t seem to have spare points either. And… the food really looked like it was running low.”
“Running low?”
“Yeah. When I was with them, he would pull out food in heaps like it was a miracle, right? And they kept it in a storage pile. But… there’s way less now. I secretly asked around, and apparently they haven’t seen him magically produce any food lately…”
“He’s running out of points.”
“Right. And that powder… it costs 30 points per container. Wouldn’t it make more sense to buy more food instead…? I mean, if it were me…”
As Dohwa puzzled over it, Saebyeok replied casually:
“He’s a cult leader. They’ll do anything for theatrics, right? Who cares about being practical?”
“…I guess so?”
“There are people who live and die for theatrics.”
…No matter how shady Joo Yeonwoo seems, he has no reason to lie about this here.
With that thought, Chae Saebyeok pushed the topic to the back of his mind.
Night fell, darkness swallowed the forest, and blue-black shadows flickered as red flames rose.
The Cult Leader sat atop the supply box with his back against a large tree.
On the ground to his left and right stood what looked like his closest follower—and Joo Yeonwoo.
From there, the formation spread outward: the cultists formed a ring around them, standing neatly in a circle.
Even the students were forced to participate, standing reluctantly at the farthest edge.
Because I’d insisted on not separating, I remained glued to Yeonwoo’s side and had a perfect view of the whole ritual.
“Come forth!”
The Cult Leader’s voice rang out from atop the supply box.
Immediately, the cultists echoed loudly:
“Come forth! Come forth!”
As if chanting a spell, they repeated it, and from the shadows came wolves and walking trees, slowly approaching the Cult Leader.
When they reached the center of the circle, the monsters stopped as if commanded.
Behind them, carrying baskets, Chae Saebyeok and Ji Dohwa stepped forward and walked straight toward the Cult Leader.
Inside their baskets were containers of white powder and pieces of bread.
The containers looked exactly like the ones Yeonwoo had been holding earlier.
They must be the swapped salt containers.
“The unclean shall be purified and accepted, and the clean shall be accepted wholly—this is the miracle granted for my lambs.”
The Cult Leader rambled theatrically, and Yeonwoo smoothly added lines, almost like ad-libbing in a stage play.
“As I still deem myself unclean, I will undergo a period of purification. The same applies to those at my side and the ones who came with me. Thus, we shall all fast tonight.”
“We accept this.”
The scripted exchange continued like a badly acted drama.
The cultists at the front of the line dipped their bread pieces into the salt and ate them.
Among the adults, several students were also lined up.
Whether for survival or genuine belief, some students had chosen to follow the Cult Leader.
After a long stretch of meaningless rambling and self-indulgent chanting, the Cult Leader finally rose from the supply box when the moon was shining high and bright on him.
“Night is when divine wrath rages! The wrath of God shall be unleashed! But fear not! Your savior stands here!”
Confidently, he strode toward the wolves and walking trees.
“Cult Leader!”
“Savior!”
The followers clustered around him.
Aren’t they standing way too close?
The wolves growled, restless, and the tree-creatures shook their branches like they could snap at any second—
but judging from the Cult Leader’s confident posture, it seemed everything was still under control.
As he raised both arms grandly toward the sky, I thought,
So the plan begins after the ritual ends?
But the moment that thought crossed my mind, Joo Yeonwoo whispered:
“Noeul. Prepare your magic and step back.”
The instant I realized he had moved in front of me—
A scream tore through the air.
“Uwaaaagh—!!”
Then came the sound of flesh being ripped apart.
Crunch, crunch—CRACK!
Red splattered across the fallen leaves as another man shrieked.
“Cult Leader!”
“The monster—the monster!”
“Help me!”
And just like that, pandemonium erupted.
“Aaahhh!”
What?
What the hell just happened?
“It appears the Cult Leader’s skill failed. I’m not sure why.”
Yeonwoo spoke calmly as he pulled a sword from inside the supply box.
He must have hidden it there beforehand.
As if he had expected this.
“I’ll cover you. Please provide support.”
That familiar faint sense of wrongness tingled at the back of my mind.
Expressionless, Yeonwoo lifted his sword and swung it toward the chaos.
Blood sprayed in an arc.
Something fell with a wet thump, sliding across the ground and leaving a long smear.
“—Hhk!”
It wasn’t a monster.
It was a person—running toward us.
“H-hey, wait— I—”
A person…
Before I could even process that, two wolves that had leapt in our direction split in half, their remains scattering.
“…A mistake.”
Yeonwoo sounded eerily calm.
He had just said he made a mistake.
He said it while—
—while cutting down a person.
His slightly furrowed brows reflected not sorrow, but irritation.
It was strange.
This was unmistakably, undeniably strange.
“It seems everyone is agitated. They’ll attack anything without thinking. Be careful.”
Meaning—his action had been nothing more than impulse.
A rash, unfiltered reaction born from uncertainty.
Uncertainty about whether what he’d cut down was truly human.
An impulse that decided life or death.
[Joo Yeonwoo – 250 Points]
[8 Constellations are watching you.]
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Something was wrong with his points.
They were increasing at an abnormal speed.
[Joo Yeonwoo – 300 Points]
Blink.
[Joo Yeonwoo – 450 Points]
Blink.
Every time I blinked, the number rose—100 points, 50 points—
It kept climbing.
The numbers rising nonstop felt unreal, and for a moment I just stared blankly.
“……Huh?”
“Noeul?”
Fifty points.
What gives fifty points?
In the point list, there had only been one thing.
[Human Kill: 50]
Only that.
Nothing else.
