Ch.76Chapter 76 – The Deal (2)

After concluding their negotiations, Baphomet smiled with satisfaction, shook hands with Shin Jaehyuk, and then silently opened a gate and disappeared. Unlike his dramatic entrance, his quiet exit made Kwak Taewoo mutter dryly.

“Seeing a holy knight making deals with a demon… that’s something else.”

“…!”

‘Come to think of it, if Mr. B is a demon, then all the deals I’ve made with him until now were deals with a demon? Oh Lord, forgive me….’

Realizing his unintentional blasphemy, Shin Jaehyuk hastily said a prayer. Whether Jaehyuk was experiencing inner turmoil because of his comment or not, Kwak Taewoo asked him:

“So we need to level up to catch the Four Heavenly Kings for now, right?”

“…Yeah. But which of the Four Heavenly Kings will appear in the mortal world next? You should know.”

Kwak Taewoo willingly shared what he knew.

“The second Heavenly King is Belphegor.”

“Belphegor!”

Shin Jaehyuk let out a silent groan. Belphegor’s infamy was well-known. The arch-demon who slaughtered dragons and stood at the pinnacle of black magic. The aspiration of all dark mages.

There was a famous story about how a kingdom once sent an army to subjugate him, only for that army to return as undead and destroy the very kingdom that dispatched them.

“When exactly will he be summoned?”

“I don’t know. More precisely, it’s become impossible to know.”

“What do you mean?”

Kwak Taewoo pointed to a calendar on the wall.

“Look. The date circled there is when Belial was supposed to be summoned in the original history. Do you see what I’m getting at?”

“…So Belial should have been summoned by now. In other words, Belial was summoned earlier than expected.”

“Right. For some reason, the current world is progressing faster than the original history. Belphegor will probably be summoned ahead of schedule too.”

This was a disaster. The advantage of regression was having information superiority—knowing when and what events would occur—but now that was falling apart from the very beginning.

“But not knowing the date doesn’t mean we can’t prepare at all. While I don’t know when Belphegor will be summoned, I do know where he’ll be summoned.”

“…!”

Kwak Taewoo pointed to a section on the map attached to the hideout wall. Shin Jaehyuk read the words his finger indicated.

“North Korea?”

“Yes. Belphegor, summoned in Pyongyang, will annihilate the North Korean army and then resurrect them with necromancy. That triggered the Second Korean War, during which two S-rank hunters, including Kim Jaemin, died… The Sword Demon to Belphegor, and Kim Jaemin to the Dark Knight.”

Kwak Taewoo still couldn’t forget that horrific moment broadcast live on the news. The undead army trampling over the DMZ like a wave, the powerful chimeras created through terrible black magic. The sacrifice of the Sword Demon to barely defeat Belphegor, and then the Dark Knight’s ambush that killed Kim Jaemin when the S-ranks thought they were safe…

From that day on, humanity slowly began its downward spiral toward extinction. It was the event that etched the fear of the Dark Knight into people’s bones.

“It won’t happen this time. Never.”

Shin Jaehyuk declared resolutely, despite the slight distrust and resentment in those final words. But Kwak Taewoo only quietly replied while fidgeting with his sword handle.

“…Let’s hope so.”

***

A few days later, after parting ways with Kwak Taewoo, Shin Jaehyuk visited the orphanage after a long time. He wanted to check if everything was alright while he was in America.

“Wow!!! It’s big brother!!!”

“What presents did you bring today!”

“Please let it be mint chocolate cake like last time…!”

While the children enthusiastically welcomed Shin Jaehyuk, he looked around trying to find Yoo Seongha. However, she was nowhere to be seen, neither in the orphanage nor in the church.

Shin Jaehyuk caught one of the children happily eating mint chocolate cake and asked:

“Mina, do you know where Sister Seongha is?”

The little girl, who looked like she had just started elementary school, looked up at Shin Jaehyuk with bright eyes, her mouth full of cake.

“Munch munch. Sister Seongha? She’s probably out again? I haven’t seen her much lately….”

“She hasn’t been coming to church at all? Why?”

Worried that something bad might have happened, Shin Jaehyuk asked with concern. The child sucked on her spoon thoughtfully, trying to remember.

“Hmm…. I think she hasn’t been around since some balding man visited. What was his name…? Oh… Oh Byeongtae?”

Shin Jaehyuk searched the name Oh Byeongtae on the internet. He didn’t expect much, but searched just in case, and surprisingly found the name in a news article.

“Secretary to the Director of the Korean Hunter Association?”

The child clapped her hands as if suddenly remembering.

“Ah, right! That man said he was from the Hunter Association!”

‘The Hunter Association contacting Sister Seongha?’

It seemed like an unlikely connection. Could she have awakened as a hunter?

“Do you know why he came?”

“No idea! Probably just talking about orphanage funding or something. Sister’s conversations with adults are too complicated for me to care about!”

“Hmm…. I see?”

Well, it was common for various companies and organizations to make donations for tax benefits. Shin Jaehyuk assumed this was just the Association making a donation to the orphanage and didn’t think more of it.

“Has anything else happened at the orphanage lately?”

“Um…. Oh! Some new volunteers came to help out.”

“Oh, really? Sister Grace must have been pleased.”

It was an era of labor shortage everywhere. With various adversities already making it difficult to find staff to help with orphanage work, new helping hands would always be welcome.

However, the child’s expression was far from bright—rather, it seemed somewhat gloomy. There was even a hint of worry and anxiety flickering across her face.

“I thought so too, but she got really angry for some reason. She chased them all away, swinging a broom like she was going to hit them. I’ve never seen her that angry before….”

‘Instead of being grateful to people who came to help, she got angry?’

Sister Grace, the head of the orphanage who had been taking care of children for over 30 years, never lost her composure.

For someone half-jokingly called the reincarnation of Mother Teresa to be so angry?

Both puzzled and intrigued, Shin Jaehyuk went to find the elderly nun who was, as far as he knew, kind and considerate to everyone.

“Oh, Jaehyuk. It’s been a while. I see you’ve been checking on the children.”

As always, she was sweeping in front of the orphanage building, making sure the yard was safe for the children to play in. However, Shin Jaehyuk could somehow sense a subtle irritation in her sweeping. And that was an emotion that really didn’t suit Sister Grace.

“Hello, Sister. Has everything been alright lately?”

The nun, with her years of experience, caught on to what Shin Jaehyuk was really asking.

“Tsk, tsk, the children must have been saying unnecessary things.”

“They seem worried because you, who is usually so composed, got angry.”

“Well… Alright, I’ll tell you.”

She cleared her throat and began her story.

“A while ago, some group contacted us saying they wanted to help at the orphanage. They said they knew about us through Seongha, so I granted them permission and gratefully accepted their goodwill. But when I met them, what do you know, they weren’t ordinary volunteers but wicked heretics disguising evil intentions as goodwill. They were wearing bracelets with inverted crosses on their wrists, which gave me a bad feeling. When I questioned them, to think that heretics would dare set foot in the Lord’s house…!”

“Heretics?”

Shin Jaehyuk asked, bewildered. She continued with an indignant voice, still not having cooled down.

“Yes! The worst kind of cult! If they had been respectable followers of another religion like Buddhism, I wouldn’t have said anything, but the Paradise Church! Aren’t they that cult that treats the so-called ‘system’ that awakened people have as some kind of god? I shouldn’t have just accepted them because they were Seongha’s acquaintances. Who knows what those heretics might have done to the children!”

In truth, from Shin Jaehyuk’s perspective as a believer in the Light God Eloach, they were all pagans to him, but seeing the nun so agitated, he didn’t dare interject. She continued her tirade about how demons emerging in the world had led to cults running rampant, how he shouldn’t fall for Satan’s temptations like those people, and how one must overcome these troubled times with unwavering faith in the Lord.

Shin Jaehyuk could only try to calm her down, sweating nervously as he waited for her excitement to subside.

“Huff… I’m sorry. You saw an unseemly side of me.”

“Haha…. These things happen. It just shows how much you care about the children.”

“Yes, thank you for understanding.”

After waiting a moment for her anger to subside, Shin Jaehyuk casually asked about Yoo Seongha.

“By the way, how is Sister Seongha doing these days? The children say she hasn’t been coming to church much.”

“Sigh…. That’s right. She’s been going out frequently, perhaps due to some business with the diocese. I haven’t heard the details, but seeing Hunter Association staff occasionally looking for her, it might be related to them…. To be honest, I don’t know much either.”

“I see.”

He had thought the orphanage might be receiving some funding, but it seemed Sister Grace hadn’t heard anything about it either. Could it be Seongha’s personal matter?

“If you happen to meet Seongha, ask her directly. I’m not going to worry about it. Unlike you, she’s always been mature and responsible, so I’m sure she can handle her own affairs.”

At the elderly nun’s words that seemed to jab at his wayward childhood days, Shin Jaehyuk awkwardly turned his head.

“I can manage my own path now too…. Alright, I’ll say goodbye to the children and be on my way.”

Fearing that the nun’s sermon bombardment might begin if he stayed, Shin Jaehyuk quickly excused himself.

When he went back into the orphanage building, the children had finished their cake and were gathered in groups watching TV.

He thought they might be watching another entertainment program featuring hunters like last time, but surprisingly, they were watching a news channel.

“Wow, kids these days even watch the news. I thought they’d never watch something so boring.”

Hearing Shin Jaehyuk’s muttering, one child retorted grumpily:

“Hmph, we’re not watching because we want to. Who says news is interesting… Sister Grace said that even children should know how the world works, and if we want to watch TV, we have to watch the news first before other programs, so we have no choice!”

Despite the grumbling, the child seemed not entirely uninterested, as they couldn’t take their eyes off the news. Finding this cute, Shin Jaehyuk thought Sister Grace’s decision was wise.

‘These children don’t even have smartphones, so they don’t have many windows to communicate with the world. This must be the nun’s intention to have them learn about society early on.’

Supporting this interpretation, the news was reporting on new technologies developed using monster corpses, a new guild launched under a major corporation, and a new hunter department established at a university—stories of the rapidly changing global landscape.

The news anchor said:

-…While the face-to-face event between Skyscraper and Kim Jaemin was canceled for unknown reasons, conspiracy theories about discord between S-ranks or attack theories are emerging on social media. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Skyscraper clarified through social media that the discord rumors are not true, in an attempt to reassure the anxious public….

Coincidentally, news related to what Shin Jaehyuk had experienced in New York was being reported. He paid close attention.

-Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Hunter Kim Jaemin, who handled the gate in New York, has now headed to Australia to deal with a new gate. This has sparked divided opinions on social media, with some saying ‘It’s too much to make an S-rank handle foreign gates consecutively without rest’ while others argue ‘It’s his choice’….

News about Kim Jaemin came up.

“That guy sure lives a busy life.”

He’s probably also building up his strength to prepare for the next Heavenly King. Maybe he’s looking even further ahead….

‘I should also make plans to prepare for Belphegor’s summoning. North Korea, was it? I have no connections or knowledge about that place…. It’s going to be difficult.’

Still, he had to do something to stop the Four Heavenly Kings. As Shin Jaehyuk was mentally formulating various plans on how to prepare for Belphegor’s arrival, he had to pause his thoughts momentarily due to what was suddenly broadcast on TV.

-Breaking, breaking news!

The TV screen suddenly switched to an emergency broadcast.

-Satellites monitoring North Korea, which has been out of contact for a month, have observed an S-rank gate outbreak phenomenon in Pyongyang!

“What…!”