Chapter 1. Candidate and Candidate (1)

For the past 15 years, that is, until I reached the age of twenty, which is conventionally considered adulthood in this country, I had tried diligently, but getting kicked out of the convent was far more difficult than I had imagined.

As a rational and logical person, I had considered ways to leave the convent without committing any crimes, but the laws of this theocratic nation were far more reasonable than I had anticipated.

In this country, convents and monasteries of the church serve as orphanages. And this concept of ‘serving as orphanages’ is included in this country’s ‘welfare system.’

Naturally, children taken in by orphanages cannot leave unless they commit a truly serious offense. No welfare system in the world would take a child’s word for it that they want to abandon their parents and become independent.

Especially if there was no abuse, it would naturally be judged that the child, not the parents, was at fault.

By the standards of this world, this convent was not a problematic place, and naturally, I could only leave the impression of a rebellious teenager who kept saying such things from a young age.

Kicked out, my foot. In the end, I ended up graduating from high school at the convent until I became an adult.

For reference, the graduation ceremony was the day after tomorrow-

…….

Due to a personal issue that I had only recently become aware of, I requested a meeting with the Nun Superior.

“Indeed, such a thing happened. You must have had a hard time, Sister.”

The Nun Superior, after hearing my request, placed a teacup in front of me and said that, then returned to her seat and spoke while looking at me intently.

“No, don’t just dismiss it as ‘such a thing.’ Huh? There’s a strange person waiting for me to leave the convent! Since I entered high school! Huh? If it stays like this, I’ll be confessed to the moment I leave!”

“Sister, if you receive a confession, you can just refuse…”

“I don’t want to! I don’t want to!”

Me, receiving a confession? And from a man? No, I really don’t want to.

“Um, Sister, so you’re giving up on leaving the convent…?”

“No, of course, I’m going to leave. I just want to postpone it for a few years.”

“Sister, I’m truly sorry to say this, but it’s impossible by system to ‘temporarily’ postpone leaving without a valid reason.”

The tone of the voice coming from beyond the partition became very bureaucratic.

Actually, it wasn’t wrong. In this world, the religion of this church was the ‘state religion,’ and while attending church wasn’t mandatory, it was highly recommended in many ways.

Furthermore, on certain holidays, it became practically mandatory.

“But…”

“And as long as you remain in the church, Sister, you must observe your duties as a nun while maintaining chastity for a certain period. And those duties include studying the scriptures, which you have steadfastly refused until now. I’m sorry, but we cannot conveniently protect those with insufficient faith within the church.”

“No, that…”

“To add, since you mentioned ‘temporarily,’ one way to remain in the church ‘temporarily’ is to enroll in the theology department.”

“……”

“A theologian is someone who can become one without necessarily being a nun or a monk, but unfortunately, your knowledge of the scriptures is lower than the average of other sisters.”

I couldn’t refute that statement at all.

After all, it was true. A person trying to deny God should look at science books more diligently than scripture. And thanks to that, my theology-related scores were close to the bottom.

“If you believe there is a stalker, please inquire with the police after you leave the convent.”

Secular matters are for secular institutions.

This was also true. That’s why I wanted to stay here a little longer!

Unfortunately, attending ‘church’ in this world is an excellent habit. Although the South Korea of this world is a theocracy, it doesn’t completely deny the secular world.

The church, as a church, handles religious matters and a part of social welfare, and only cooperates with public order in cases related to beings beyond the gates.

After all, according to this country’s standards, completely denying what people enjoyed during the secular state era would mean losing too much.

Therefore, even if a stalker of a nun frequently comes to church, there is no problem. It feels like there are at least seven creepy guys looking at me every time they come to church, but aren’t they faithful believers coming to pray?

Moreover, due to the rule that men should not carelessly speak to nuns within the church, those stalkers… or rather, suspected stalkers, have not approached me yet. If they did, they would be severely reprimanded.

Nuns can go outside, but minor nuns never go alone. While the nuns in my reality used to take buses and subways alone, most clergy in this world wield divine power, and those who can do so are rare.

They basically act in groups, and if there’s someone the church ‘specially’ looks after, they even provide escorts. Yes, this can be considered reasonable.

The problem is that because they are so thoroughly protected, there is no way to prove that a stalker is a stalker.

No, okay. If I think ‘rationally and logically,’ they might not be stalkers.

They might just be men who are normally attracted to me and are waiting for the right moment to confess.

…….

No, even thinking that way, I hate it like hell.

“Sister, it’s a bit late to say this now, but…”

I knew the words that were about to come were ones I had said too often, but at least at this moment, I couldn’t escape carelessly.

After all, I intended to stay here a little longer, even if it was just for a year or two.

“As I told you, if you had properly hidden your hair under your veil, as is the custom for nuns, and not dyed a part of your hair, and if you had untied that strange belt below your chest, wouldn’t you have been less noticeable to those people?”

……I intend to stay, but.

“Abbess-nim, I’m sorry, but sexual crimes in the world don’t just happen because a woman reveals a little of her allure.”

“……”

Oops.

“…So, you’re saying the reason you dressed up like that wasn’t to look good to the male believers.”

Uh…

“I’ve already told you this several times, but given the current situation, let me organize it once more.”

The Nun Superior cleared her throat and spoke calmly.

“As far as I can tell, Sister, you have not faithfully participated in scripture studies. Well, it’s okay. The church laws in this country are mostly customary laws, and you can’t be punished by force just for being a little less devout. Prayer is only meaningful when a believer does it willingly with a devout heart; what meaning is there in just following the form? Moreover, you did not become a nun by your own will.”

Let me say it again, most orphans in this country are taken in by the church. It’s one of the ‘welfare’ aspects that the church partially inherited.

Since I had no parents in this world, I had been living in this church’s convent since I was young.

“Putting that aside…”

The Nun Superior continued.

“Sister, immediately after becoming a Saint Candidate, you wrote a letter to the Cardinal. You directly wrote that you didn’t believe the being called God in this world was God, and therefore you were not qualified to be a Saint.”

“That’s because…”

“And the Cardinal, who was furious, revoked many of your rights as a Saint Candidate. You seem to have forgotten how hard Father-nim and I worked to prevent you from being summoned for heresy.”

“…I am still sorry about that…”

“Frankly, I don’t understand why someone with such powerful divine abilities lives a life so far from ‘devotion.'”

I had nothing to say about that. Of course, I didn’t know either.

To be honest, I suspect that the guy who claims to be God is doing this to annoy me by adding this kind of setting.

“Haa.”

The Nun Superior took a deep breath and took a sip of green tea from her teacup.

Then, looking at me, who had my head bowed low, she opened her mouth subtly.

“There is a way, though.”

“Really?”

As I shot my head up, the Nun Superior smiled wryly.

“If you confess your faith now and say you want to become a Saint Candidate, that’s it. Your qualification as a candidate has been revoked, but your position as a candidate is still valid.”

“Yes?”

“The term ‘Saint Candidate’ simply means a candidate. Basically, you are a nun. Of course, you possess great abilities, so we make various accommodations, but how could we dare to demote a position given by the Lord so carelessly?”

No, aren’t those positions like Saint and Saint Candidate also created by humans? It’s not like the person above them told them, ‘She is the Saint.’ At least, in the content I read up to the latest chapter, there was nothing like that.

“Well, think about it slowly and tell me. There’s still a little time left, isn’t there?”

“Ah, um, Abbess-nim!”

“I know.”

The Nun Superior extended her hand, placed her hand gently on mine, and smiled benevolently.

“You are undoubtedly serving Him from the depths of your heart. It’s just that the wounds from your childhood are too great, so you want to deny His existence.”

No, it’s not like that.

However, if I said that now, I felt like I would lose even the slimmest hope, so I closed my mouth tightly.

People whose thought processes are already religious cannot be persuaded by anything I say.

Moreover, although I believe that person is definitely not God, from those people’s perspective, the being who is already considered God actually exists in this world.

“Oh my.”

As I thought about that ‘being who is not God but is treated as God,’ a faint ray of white light connected above my head.

Only after the Nun Superior saw it and spoke with a hint of admiration did I belatedly realize that fact, and I waved my hand away like swatting a fly, scattering the light. Strangely, the ‘light’ dispersed like smoke as I waved my hand.

“Sister, that is-“

“……”

As I kept my mouth shut and said nothing, the Nun Superior sighed deeply.

“Regardless of what you say, I believe the light proves that you have faith.”

It’s probably just that guy trying to provoke me.

Of course, I have enough emotional control not to say such things to a religious person’s face.

“Well, that’s fine. Everyone wants to walk their own path. If the path you want to take is not that path, I have no intention of forcing you.”

The Nun Superior looked at me intently and spoke.

“There are a few other ways to stay here a little longer without becoming a Saint or enrolling in theology.”

“Really!?”

As I leaned forward and exclaimed, the Nun Superior nodded lightly and said.

“First, join the church’s knight order. Even if you’ve skipped a lot of classes, you must know that there’s a knight order within the church, right?”

Of course, I know.

As is often the case in such world settings, there is a ‘Hunter Association’ in the secular world. However, the association is not the only one. Just as the names of similar organizations differ depending on whether ‘Korea,’ ‘South Korea,’ or ‘National’ is attached, it’s similar in this world.

In addition, there seem to be separate private companies operated by civilians.

Similarly, to prepare for cases where church support is needed, the church also operates such an institution separately, which is called a ‘knight order.’

……Since the religion has only been around for a little over ten years, honestly, using the name ‘knight order’ as is feels a bit too cringe-worthy.

Since it inherited some of the positions of the existing religion, well, let’s just not say anything more. It gets too tiring if I start questioning every little thing.

“But Sister, you are likely to fail the entrance exam for that knight order. You won’t be able to memorize anything.”

However, the Nun Superior’s expression as she said that was not one of mockery.

That means there really is some ‘way.’

“However, there is a way to get in through recommendation.”

“So…!”

“I’m not saying I’ll recommend you.”

I let my arms droop as I heard the answer before she even finished.

“However, I can recommend someone who will gain the right to recommend in the future.”

“…That’s an incredibly ambiguous position.”

“Although it’s an ambiguous position for now, if you can move out of the ‘candidate’ position, and if you are in a friendly position with Sister at that time, it’s possible to place someone in a position where no one will dare to touch Sister.”

Oh.

I leaned my upper body towards the table again.

“Who is that?”

“It’s someone who will walk the path of training starting tomorrow, just like you, Sister. Her name is Sister Lee Chae-eun. You must have heard of her at least once.”

“…Ah.”

I had heard of her.

In this life, and in my past life.

“Even if you graduate, you don’t have to move out of your room immediately. Normally, we give you until the end of May after graduation. It’s a time to decide how to live in the secular world and whether to pursue higher education or employment.”

In other words, I need to persuade that person named ‘Lee Chae-eun’ by that time.

“Other methods…”

“To propose again, it would be to secure the position of Saint Candidate once more.”

“……”

Watching the Nun Superior calmly take a sip of tea, I was speechless.