Chapter 31
Toward the end of lunchtime, the Seven Holy Names, named after the Seven Heavenly Virtues, were gathered in the student council room. They had gathered for a meeting on two issues, but the meeting had yet to begin.
"Humility is absent. Charity is vacant. Patience said she would come, but I don't see her here. Why are there so many worthless people in our school year?”
Yeo Min-Seo, Holy Name of Kindness, lamented as she looked at the empty seats. There was no way they could proceed with the meeting because three out of seven people were not there. She continued to speak as she meaninglessly looked through the documents in her hand.
“At least Patience came to school, so there’s that. But why in the world is Humility not even coming to school?”
“Humility’s father died, so they had to go to his funeral.”
"This is already the third time I've heard the excuse about the funeral. Don’t tell me he has three fathers. Does he think he’s Lu Bu?[1]”
Min-Seo crumpled up the documents she was holding. Her manner of speech did not match the title of Holy Name of Kindness at all. The atmosphere of the meeting was stifling.
“Well, if they’re not coming, let’s just start without them. The first issue is–”
Thump–!
Just as the meeting was about to begin, the door opened. Jin-Seo slowly stepped into the student council room, gasping for breath. Min-Seo glared sharply at Jin-Seo.
“You’re here? You’re quite late, aren’t you?”
“Sorry, I had some business to take care of.”
“Yeah, sure, you must have had a reason for being five minutes late. Anyone who arrives late will always have an excuse.”
Jin-Seo's eyebrows twitched for a moment, but that was it. Jin-Seo sat down and bit her lips to quench her inner anger.
Tap tap.
Min-Seo sat in the upper seat of the round table and straightened out the documents using the desk to organize them.
“Since everyone who needs to come has come, let’s start the meeting.”
Min-Seo rummaged through the papers. In principle, the meeting was supposed to be conducted by the Holy Name of Humility, but Humility had been absent for two weeks. As a result, Min-Seo, the Holy Name of Kindness, was the meeting’s host.
“The first issue is about the Satanist who infiltrated Florence Academy. There is clear evidence that they have infiltrated the academy because of the ‘barn demonic beast incident’ and ‘Jun-Min’s case.’ Thus, we’ve been ordered to find the Satanist. Apparently, there is a high probability that the Satanist is among the first-year students. That’s why the teachers have left the task to us.”
The Holy Name of Diligence, Dae-Man, asked, "Is there a way to find them?"
He looked like he was sitting, but in reality, he wasn't. There was no chair in his seat. Instead, Dae-Man had formed an invisible chair with his legs by squatting at a perfect 90-degree angle even before the meeting had started.
"Look at this first before we talk. It's a picture from the time of the incident."
Min-Seo unfolded the documents on the table. They were CCTV photos of the Florence barn. The photographs all had something in common—they all showed a picture of a man wearing a black hood and mask. He was drawing an unidentified magic circle.
"Who is this black guy? He seems to be drawing a blessing array, but the color is weird,” Dae-Man asked while looking at the pictures with narrowed eyes.
"Isn’t it obvious that it’s the Satanist? Why don’t you think before you ask a question?” Min-Seo replied angrily.
"Is that so? Then what is this guy drawing? A blessing array?”
"It's not a blessing array, it's a Pentagram. If you don't know, I'd like you to stay quiet. Don't ask useless questions."
Dae-Man glared at Min-Seo. She did not lose to him and glared back at him. The eyes of the two parties crossed, and the sparks exploded. The atmosphere was violent. The other Holy Names stared at them without even thinking of intervening. It naturally turned into a situation where Dae-Man and Min-Seo would exchange barbs.
"If we make use of the Holy Name of Humility, I think we can find the Satanist."
“Yeah, but they’ve been absent the whole time, and it's not clear whether they will cooperate.”
“Aha... It feels like you’ve only been criticizing everything I’ve been saying since earlier. If you’re going to refute, then shouldn’t you suggest an alternative?”
"Wow, that's right. I must have lost my intelligence because you said so many stupid things. I'm sorry." novelbin
Dae-Man jumped up from his invisible seat. Just as he was about to walk toward Min-Seo, a long arm blocked his path.
"Stop. Don't fight."
It was the Holy Name of Temperance, Han Su-Ryeon. She continued while rummaging through the papers, "It looks like there's only CCTV footage of the barn. Where was the Jun-Min incident?”
“Right in front of the school. Somewhere around the city park.”
“Ok. Don't you have any CCTV footage from there?”
"No. It's all damaged. There is no evidence in relation to the Jun-Min case—"
Min-Seo was about to answer Su-Ryeon's question indifferently, but her eyes glittered as if she had thought of an amazing idea.
"No, come to think of it, there is. Jin-Seo, the sole witness of the incident, is right here.”
Jin-Seo's shoulders trembled.
Min-Seo looked at Jin-Seo with an eerie smile. There was madness in her eyes.
“Do you have any leads? Was there anything unusual about Jun-Min when he turned into a demon?”
"...I don't remember."
"Don't lie. Why don't you cooperate?"
Jin-Seo took a deep breath while looking down. Just thinking about what happened at that time made her suffocate. Just repeating the name Jun-Min made her chest feel tight.
"Really. I don't remember."
She didn’t even want to remember. In fact, she couldn't remember well. Even if she could remember, she didn’t want to talk about it.
"Alright. If you don't want to talk, then that’s fine. You come late, and now you don't cooperate. You’re very helpful," Min-Seo said in a blatantly sarcastic tone. Jin-Seo felt angry but didn't say anything and just held it in.
She didn’t even want to talk to Min-Seo. It was because she would always lose when she quarreled with her.
Su-Ryeon sat at the side and looked at the pictures. She belatedly said, "I don't think we can find them with just these pictures. Let's talk when the Holy Name of Humility comes back. What do you think?"
Min-Seo nodded.
"Alright. Then the next agenda is Sung-Hyun. That retard was expelled from school for doing moronic things. As a result, the Holy Name of Charity is currently vacant. That’s why we need to elect a new person.”
“Why is that on the agenda?” Dae-Man smirked.
Min-Seo's eyebrows creased. "...Alright. I'll explain it from now on. Let’s say they do the re-election test, and another fool gets elected. What are you going to do if they do a bunch of stupid things like Sung-Hyun did?”
“What’s the problem? Then we just need to hold another re-election test—”
"This is why you shouldn't give stupid people a chance to speak." Min-Seo interrupted Dae-Man. Beneath his tracksuit, Dae-Man’s arm muscles twitched. His patience was slowly reaching its limit. Nevertheless, Min-Seo continued without a care.
"If you're going to fight, go out and fight. Not here."
If Min-Seo and Dae-Man truly fought with each other, the student council room would be ruined. That alone had to be stopped, and Su-Ryeon tried desperately to kick them out of the student council room. However, Min-Seo and Dae-Man were already angry. She wouldn’t be able to stop them herself.
However, there was no fight.
"...No, let's not fight. There's nothing good that will come out of fighting." Min-Seo bowed down first. She sighed deeply and then smiled and looked at Dae-Man. "Alright then, what are you so unsatisfied about?”
"I want Sun-Woo to be chosen as the Holy Name of Charity."
"Why?"
"Sun-Woo trains his stamina at the gym every day. He’s very hard-working and diligent. That’s the reason."
“What a stupid reason... No. I see, so that was your reason. It makes sense now.” Min-Seo sat down with a deep sigh. She almost had a temper tantrum for a moment, but she forced herself to suppress her boiling heart and swallowed her anger. “We still can’t choose Sun-Woo though.”
“Why?”
"I told you earlier. Let's say that we overlook the fact that his public image is not very good after compromising a hundred times over. But what about the donations? I told you that Sun-Woo is not going to be able to donate because he’s poor.”
Min-Seo's tone became more and more incensed. "If you don't make a donation, you can't even be selected as the Holy Name of Charity in the first place. That’s why we can’t choose Sun-Woo, do you understand, mister?”
“Stop calling me mister. And money can simply be earned.”
"Oh, come on, you stupid pig! It's not at a level that you can simply earn! The only reason you can say something as foolish as that is because you don’t know how Florence Academy is structured.” Min-Seo shouted out loud in frustration. Her eyes were bloodshot.
"Sigh. Alright, fine. Then let’s vote with a show of hands on whether we want to go with Sun-Woo or Jun-Hyuk. There. Are you happy now? We’ll follow the laws of democracy to decide all this fair and square. Okay?”
“Sounds good.” Dae-Man agreed. Min-Seo immediately held a show of hands vote.
Dae-Man and Jin-Seo raised their hands on Sun-Woo's side, and Min-Seo and Ha-Yeon raised their hands on Jun-Hyuk's side.
So, the result was a two-to-two tie.
"Han Su-Ryeon. Why didn’t you raise your hand?"
"I’ll pass. I don't really care who it is."
"What? Huh? No... Ha..." Min-Seo was so amazed that she grabbed the back of her own neck. She was barely able to hold back her anger. She let out a deep sigh as Su-Ryeon looked at her with a smile.
"You can leave both Jun-Hyuk and Sun-Woo as nominees.”
"What are you talking about? We only have one seat.”
“There’s a rumor that in this re-election test, students are allowed to bring their own holy artifacts. I found out after I heard about it from somewhere.”
Su-Ryeon suddenly talked about something that didn’t seem to be related to what they were currently discussing. Min-Seo tilted her head at an angle as if she didn't understand.
"So what are you suggesting?"
"We can manipulate the re-election test so that we have a one-on-one face-off between Jun-Hyuk and Sun-Woo."
"...Ah," Min-Seo exclaimed as if she finally understood what Su-Ryeon was saying.
Su-Ryeon continued, “Let’s say their skills are roughly similar. Then the battle will depend on who has the more expensive and better holy artifacts. Simply put, the one who has more money wins.”
"So what you’re saying is that we’ll make it a competition between Jun-Hyuk and Sun-Woo, and leave the rest to their wealth?"
"That’s right. What do you say?"
Su-Ryeon smiled. It was a clear smile that did not reflect a single hint of malice. On the other hand, Min-Seo's mouth had formed an exceedingly evil smile.
Jin-Seo, who was listening to their conversation, hurriedly quipped, "If you do that, Sun-Woo would be in too much of a disadvantageous situation.”
"Why?"
"Why, of course..." According to the documents handed over by Min-Seo, Jun-Hyuk was the only son of a family of prelates.
Sun-Woo, on the other hand, lost his mother during the Holy War, and his father was an ordinary clergyman that was on a business trip abroad.
Just based on common sense, it was obvious that Jun-Hyuk was more wealthy. If the fight came down to how much capital they each had, then Sun-Woo would be at a disadvantage.
"Oh, so since Sun-Woo lacks capital, you’re saying it's disadvantageous to make it a one-on-one battle between him and Jun-Hyuk?"
Jin-Seo hesitated to answer, so Min-Seo answered instead of her. Jin-Seo could only sit there and nod.
"It can't be helped. If you lose in a battle of wealth, it means that you’re already not qualified for the title of the Holy Name of Charity.”
“What is that? Then we’re not picking based on ability, we’re just picking based on their parents’ jobs.”
“Having good parents is also a talent. For the Holy Name of Charity, the parents’ occupations are also important. It's because of a complicated mechanism at Florence Academy. Since your father is the chairman, you also roughly understand, don't you?"
The Holy Name of Charity contributed money to Florence Academy, and Florence Academy helped out the student council in return. The status of the student council depended on how much money the Holy Name of Charity contributed.
For this reason, the Holy Name of Charity was elected based on capital rather than ability.
"Let’s be honest here. If we only looked at Sung-Hyun’s skills, then he would just be a candidate with jack shit. He was picked purely out of his ability to donate large amounts of money because his father is the president of dBP. Isn’t that right?”
"But still, this is so unfair–"
"Unfair? Hey. You’re also benefiting from that sort of unfairness, so what gives you the right to complain?”
Min-Seo backed Jin-Seo into a corner. Jin-Seo couldn't say anything, so she just silently opened and closed her mouth and eventually lowered her head. Jin-Seo's adoptive father was a Florence Academy’s chairman. It was all thanks to his donations that she had lived such a good life. She was not in a position to argue about fairness or unfairness. It was because she was one of the biggest beneficiaries of this unfair world.
"Other than her, we have no objections, right? Then it’s decided. The meeting is over. Let's go."
The meeting ended with Min-Seo's words. Jin-Seo's heart felt heavy throughout the journey back to her classroom.
* * *
After school, Uncle Jin-Sung contacted me. The news was that the Holy Artifact, which I had promised to receive from Bae Jung-Hwan the other day, had just arrived. When I went to the underground chapel with high expectations, the holy artifacts welcomed me with their beautiful appearance.
"Wow. This is amazing."
"Isn’t that right? They’ll definitely provide their money’s worth.”
[How mysterious. Back in my day, I couldn’t even imagine things like this.]
Thus, we began testing out the performance of the artifacts. Even though we called it a performance test, it was more accurate to say that we were playing around with the artifacts.
"Hey, you don't have to carry a bag. You can just put it in here."
"That's right!"
The underground chapel was full of laughter today.
1. Lu Bu is a character from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms who had three fathers. ?