Chapter 1. Candidate and Candidate (6)

“Huh? Huh? Why can’t you answer, our Saint Candidate?”

However, amidst such bewilderment, there was something that struck a chord with me.

Well, it wasn’t that it struck a chord in a positive sense. Quite the opposite. It was the very thing I hated.

“…Excuse me.”

“Huh?”

“I can tolerate everything else, but I’d prefer if you didn’t call me ‘Saint Candidate’.”

As I said this with a serious expression, flustered, Ria looked up at me, standing there, for the first time today, looking taken aback.

“You really hate being called Saint, don’t you?”

“Of course, I hate it for real. Would I hate it for fake? Haven’t you heard everything I’ve said so far?”

“So, you really wanted to make me apostatize?”

“No, that’s not it, but it’s true that I wanted you to become closer to the church.”

“No, wait, just a moment.”

As if her head was starting to hurt from the conversation, Ria touched her forehead and said.

“So, you’re saying that you are a Saint Candidate, but you believe God doesn’t exist.”

“That’s right.”

“And yet, you want me to get closer to the church.”

“That’s accurate.”

I replied and sat back down on the bed, crossing my arms.

“And the method you used to deepen my faith is to insult God in front of me.”

“At least, it worked so far.”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t for the sake of the other’s faith, but rather to drive away the person who kept provoking me.

You know, even if someone has a bad relationship with their parents, the person who hears their parents insulted in front of them will get angry. That’s also why the phrase ‘orphan’ is effective for both people who have parents and those who truly don’t.

Well, it’s also a fact that it doesn’t work on someone who ‘thinks they don’t have parents.’ It’s the same for someone who is very rational and knows that the person insulting them is actually pathetic.

…I’m not saying I’m pathetic, of course.

“Why? If you hate the church, you can just wait until you’re old enough and leave. If you’re not affiliated with the church, you’ll hear much less about being a Saint Candidate or anything like that. Well, considering they put you and me together in the church, your goal seems to be the same as mine, but if you’re someone who’s going to leave, why would you try so hard to persuade me?”

Ria tilted her head and asked.

“That’s…”

I thought about it back and forth, and finally sighed deeply.

“…Alright. Then I’ll tell you. It’s a very serious and important matter about reality, so listen carefully. Don’t laugh.”

“…No, if it’s funny, I’ll laugh.”

“Do you intend to laugh when someone is talking seriously?”

“Whether it’s serious or not is for me to judge.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and then opened them again.

Then, after taking a few breaths, I said.

“Alright. Since it’s come to this, there’s no other way but to negotiate directly with you.”

“You’ve been using ‘you’ openly since earlier, but if you’re following the rules, shouldn’t you say ‘Sister’?”

“…Then I’ll tell you.”

As I spoke, ignoring Ria’s words, Ria again put on an expression of trying to hold back laughter.

It was an infuriating expression.

*

“……”

However, when my story ended, Ria didn’t laugh at all.

It wasn’t a serious expression either. Rather, what could I say…

It was a ‘complicated’ expression.

An expression that showed she didn’t know if I was lying, being sincere, or just playing around.

I spoke with an infinitely serious expression to show my sincerity.

“I’m serious.”

“So, you’re saying that it’s true that there are several people waiting to confess to you when you leave the convent, and that’s why you want to stay in this church to avoid those confessions?”

“To be precise, there are seven, and yes, I’m serious.”

Only after hearing my words did Ria’s expression become serious.

Looking at her face, which was staring intently at me, I let out a long sigh.

As expected, she understands because she’s pretty and has a good figure.

“So, I propose-“

“On what grounds?”

“Huh?”

“So, on what grounds do you judge that those seven people are waiting to confess to you?”

Interrupting my proposal, Ria looked at me and asked.

“Grounds?”

“Yes, grounds.”

“Don’t you know?”

“If I knew, would I have asked?”

Hmph.

I let out a hollow laugh. And Ria’s expression as she looked at me became subtle again. It was like she was looking at someone sick… Well, I’m not sick, so she must have seen wrong. People’s expressions are diverse, and everyone expresses themselves differently.

I had no choice but to close my eyes and take a deep breath.

Then I extended my index fingers of both hands.

With those two fingers-

Thwack.

I pointed to my face.

“I,”

And then, opening my eyes wide, I said.

“Am pretty.”

With a very serious expression.

“……”

Ria, who had been staring at me silently for a while with an equally serious expression-

Slap.

She hit her forehead with her palm.

Huh?

That action is clearly something you do when you see something utterly absurd.

*

That weekend.

The period of seven days no longer held any particular meaning in the religion of this world, and therefore, Sunday, if you will, was no longer a day of rest or held any religious significance.

However, it’s not as if you can completely overturn a deeply rooted tradition that has continued for thousands of years in just over a decade.

Moreover, there are still quite a few people who overlap the entity high above with the Christian God. While it’s not an officially recognized interpretation by the church, they can’t completely deny it either. After all, they can’t abandon billions of related religious people in the world.

You could just think of it as a very long observation and integration process. They are also open to the possibility.

Attending services every Sunday remains the same.

Heh.

For now, I attend the services. To be more precise, I participate in almost all religious activities.

This is… well, it’s like performing ancestral rites. Some people might believe that ancestral spirits actually come and eat the ritual food, but many people respect tradition and follow it without complaint for the well-being of the family.

Even if you’re an atheist, you can’t just enter a Christian university and skip chapel, can you?

Well, I didn’t choose to be in this life, but since I’m eating and sleeping here, I’ll at least follow the schedule, that was my thought.

Heh. Heh.

“……Why are you doing that?”

I replied to Ria, who was standing next to me, poking my side.

At my voice, the other nuns sitting around us glanced at me.

Up front, the priest was giving various good talks, and in front of that priest were the believers.

The seats weren’t completely full. Even though a state religion was established, there was no obligation to attend church. Because weekends are weekends.

Devout people do come, but their proportion doesn’t seem to differ much from before the state religion was established.

Well, if they forced it, there would be an uproar.

“Is there anyone among them that you mentioned?”

“……There is, but why?”

“Who is it?”

“……The skinny middle-aged man in a suit in the third row.”

Ria raised her head to confirm the location. Seeing that man glance over and make eye contact with us before quickly looking forward again, Ria quietly opened her mouth.

“Let’s talk after the sermon is over.”

“Talk after the sermon?”

There was no answer.

The priest’s sermon was treated as a kind of lecture, so nuns who were still in the learning process had to listen.

Of course, they sat separately from the believers… Well, even so, since there were male believers, it was inevitable for the nuns to giggle and chat.

Although the Nun Superior was glaring at those nuns-

Oops.

A gaze also came this way, so I quickly lowered my head.

After all, I don’t want to be nagged. While I fought for other things and achieved them, I want to avoid being nagged unnecessarily.

I’ve heard enough of it for the past 15 years.

Fortunately, Ria didn’t speak to me any further.

At least until the lecture ended.

*

“Oh, wait a moment!?”

But as soon as the lecture ended, Ria grabbed one of my wrists and stood up abruptly.

Seeing her dragging me towards the believers, a few nuns were surprised and whispered.

“Sister!”

Naturally, the Nun Superior was horrified.

The priest, who was leaving his seat, was also looking this way with wide eyes.

I tried to slap Ria’s hand away, but my physical strength was far too inferior to resist Ria’s, who had been trained in many ways.

“No, wait a moment, this is against the rules-“

“No, you haven’t followed the rules at all until now, so why?”

There’s a limit, you know!

Without even a moment for anyone to intervene, I found myself standing in front of a skinny middle-aged man.

Two young nuns- and one of them was the daughter of a very famous Hero, standing in front of me, the man blinked.

Well, it’s not just that they were famous, but both were openly delinquent nuns, so that’s probably why.

When I shook my hand vigorously, Ria finally let go of my hand.

“Excuse me.”

Unlike how she had dragged me here quite roughly, Ria greeted the man with a relatively polite voice.

“Ah, yes, Sister. Nice to meet you.”

The man also replied much more politely than I expected.

“I have one thing I’d like to ask.”

“Ah, yes.”

The man looked at both of us, seemingly not understanding the reason. I felt the color drain from my face.

No, why is she doing this?

Was she like this in the original work too?

She was a relatively reckless character in the original work, and she often annoyed the Saint by nitpicking church doctrines. That’s also why her father kept her from leaving the church.

She didn’t go this far-

“You’ve been looking at this Sister frequently today. Is there something you want to say? Brother, what is it that you want to say so badly?”

“……”

I tried to open my mouth to make some excuse, but I could only open and close my mouth without saying anything.

What could I say in this situation…!

“Ah, yes…”

Feeling immense pressure from the surrounding gazes, the man glanced around nervously. The believers were already murmuring.

No, even so.

The man put his hand into his jacket pocket.

Could it be,

Could it be-!

And what he took out was-

His wallet.

Taking out a business card from the wallet, the man politely handed it to me with both hands.

As I received the business card in a daze, I read its contents.

[Hunter Association ‘Cheongsan’

Talent Recruitment Team Leader Kang Sang-cheol]

The name was written on the luxurious business card, and below it were the association’s address and the email and mobile number of ‘Team Leader Kang Sang-cheol’.

“Well, I didn’t expect to have to say it this way… but you are Sister Anna, right? You are also a Saint Candidate.”

“……Uh, yes.”

I was so flustered that I couldn’t immediately deny being a Saint Candidate and answered like that.

“But hearing you speak, it seems you will be leaving the clergy soon.”

I don’t know how the information leaked, but it seems he heard about it.

Well, this convent is a modern convent, and it’s not just for orphans like me; there are also young ladies from quite famous families.

Even if I hid my name, there are many people like Ria who already know everything.

Those nuns, even if not by phone, meet with their families once a month and maintain contact by exchanging letters.

It must have gotten mixed in with that information.

The blood that had left my face slowly began to return.

But this time, it seemed to be returning a little too much.

To the people around me, I must have looked extremely red.

Ria was grinning and watching me.

“Even if you don’t ascend to the position of Saint, I’ve heard stories about you, Sister, who has healed many injured and sick people. If you plan to find employment immediately after leaving the clergy, we would like to ask you to visit our association. We will provide all necessary facilities and equipment free of charge. Of course, the annual salary is-“

“Hey, that’s not ethical!”

However, before the talent recruiter could finish speaking, another man stood up from over there.

“We agreed to give you the business card after you leave the clergy!”

The man who shouted that was a bit older than the skinny man in front of me, with a slightly protruding belly visible even through his suit coat.

That man, who rushed through the believers with a briefcase in one hand-

Heh. Heh.

Ria poked my side.

I don’t even need to see her expression.

‘Is this person also one of the stalkers you mentioned?’

That voice was already playing automatically in my head.

The man, who ran without regard for the murmuring believers around him, suddenly changed his demeanor to polite in front of me and offered his business card.

[Hunter Association ‘Paik & Park’]

Whether it was Cheongsan or Paik & Park, both were quite famous private hunter associations.

Although they were closer to ‘companies’ than places directly registered with the state, if you had the ability, you could probably work there for a long time without being fired.

“……”

However, I couldn’t properly answer either of them.

Even though five more people rushed towards me after that, by then, the Nun Superior was already dragging me and Ria away.

Listening to the murmurs around me, I thought.

Ah, what do I do now? Even if I don’t have friends, there are plenty of people I’ll have to see face-to-face from tomorrow.

What do I do tomorrow?

……

Should I just quit everything and leave the clergy?