Chapter 4
“Oh yeah, I’ve heard of the Voodooists,” I said. I bet I knew more about them than anyone else.
“Really? Some people haven’t heard of them.”
“It’s hard not to know them.... If you don’t mind me asking, what is the name of your younger sibling?” I questioned.
“Jung Yoon-Ah. They're a year younger than me.”
“How long have they been missing?”
“Around eight or nine months? I’m not too sure. At this point, I just hope they’re alive.” Jung In-Ah answered with a strained voice. Talking about her sibling seemed to take a lot out of her.
“I’ve heard rumors that most of the kidnappings are done by the Voodooists,” Jung In Ah said. “You should be careful as well.”
“Yeah.... You’re right. I should be careful,” I replied.
Jung In-Ah spoke ill about the Voodooists and the different kidnapping incidents. I played along, and before I knew it, we were in front of my house.
“See you tomorrow.” Jung In-Ah waved goodbye. I smiled in return and stepped into my house.
I couldn’t feel my arms or legs. I plopped on my bed and drew my blanket up to my chin. I wanted to take a nap, but I just couldn’t sleep.
[...]
Legba was uncharacteristically quiet that day.
***
“So their name is Jung Yoon-Ah, and they’re sixteen, right?”
“Yup.” This composition is securely entrenched in n0v*lbin★
“Nope, I can’t find them anywhere.”
I headed straight to the underground chapel after a simple dinner. I had asked my uncle Lee Jin-Sung to see if we had a member named Jung Yoon-Ah.
My uncle shook his head. “I think that it’s a groundless accusation. Even if we’ve been branded as a cult by the public, we haven’t resorted to means like kidnapping, right?”
“I know you’re right, but...”
“Don’t worry about it so much. It might be the jobs of Satanists or other cults that use us as a cover-up,” my uncle said nonchalantly.
The Voodooist doctrine shared many similarities with the Romanicans. Both valued love and respect and sought to understand what it meant to be good. Obviously, both religions frowned upon crimes like kidnapping. Jung In-Ah’s sibling was probably kidnapped by another cult impersonating us. No, it had to be imposters.
I tried to think of it that way, but I couldn’t help feeling pangs of guilt and malaise at the back of my mind.
[Lee Jin-Sung is right. There’s no need to worry about it. Even if our cult did play a role in kidnapping her sibling, it’s not your fault.]
“Of course it’s my fault. I’m the Cult Leader.”
[Um, that’s a sound argument.]
Legba’s pointless answer made me drop my head. My chest tightened, and my shoulders felt heavy. If our cult played a part in the kidnapping of Jung In-Ah’s sibling, then I was accountable since I was the Cult Leader.
“Hey, Sun-Woo, are you free this Saturday?” It was my uncle that had cut through the rambling thoughts inside my head.
“Saturday? Sure, I’m free. What’s up?”
“We got a request for help. Should we take it or not?”
“Request? From whom?”
My uncle took a better look at his phone. “‘It’s dPB’s Corporate Chairman.”
“Yeah,” I answered.
“Why’d you do that? Trying to satisfy the special conditions, I mean.”
“Just because.”
“Did you think you were going to make it? Or did you think you weren’t?”
“I dunno.”
They weren’t questions worth answering, so I just answered them passingly. Any other person would have lost interest by now, but not Koo Jun-Hyuk. He kept asking questions, to which I answered dryly. His questions went into one ear and out the other. Koo Jun-Hyuk ignored that and persisted with his inquiry, disturbing my studying.
“Hey, I have to study. Can you please go somewhere else?” I said as politely as possible. I had had enough.
“Oh, my bad. I just wanted to be closer to you. See, you’re famous. I guess I’ll leave now.”
Now, he had said something that caught my attention.
“What? Famous?”
“Huh? You didn’t know?” Koo Jun-Hyuk said, sitting back down.
“You were sleeping during the opening ceremony, right?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Ha, I’d be surprised if you weren’t famous. I bet everyone has seen you, even if they don’t know your name.”
Thinking back, I’d done many things that would have attracted attention. I wanted to leave my mark out there since it would help me become a prelate, but this... I didn’t want to become famous this way.
“Just saying, you’re probably—”
“Hey, you guys.”
It was none other than Bae Sung-Hyun. He had been talking to his group of friends just earlier, and he now interrupted Koo Jun-Hyuk.
“Can you keep it down? Everyone else is trying to study here.”
“Oh~ isn’t it our class president? My apologies, sir~”
“Tssk.”
Koo Jun-Hyuk handled the situation with a cheeky attitude. Bae Sung-Hyun clicked his tongue in annoyance, even though he had been talking to his friends as well.
There was a saying that fit this situation perfectly. What was it again?
“Pot calling the kettle black—the man’s crazy,” he said, lowering his voice so Bae Sung-Hyun couldn’t hear.
Koo Jun-Hyuk had said the exact words that were on the tip of my tongue.
“It seemed like Bae Sung-Hyun dislikes you. Be careful. He’s kinda famous,” Koo Jun-Hyuk continued in his hushed voice.
“Of course, he is famous. He’s the holder of the holy name of charity.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. Uh, how do I say this? Urgh. I’ll tell you later.”
Bae Sung-Hyun was intensely staring at us. Koo Jun-Hyuk stood up, quickly wrapped up his sentence, and returned to his seat.
I finished studying but couldn’t concentrate; it was hard to shake off Koo Jun-Hyuk’s words. The words in the book seemed to disperse into thin air before they made it to my eyes.
[You’re famous! That’s great! You’re one step closer to your goal.]
However, this wasn’t a good situation.
This wasn’t the time to talk back to Legba.
So, I quietly resumed my studies.