The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 129

Kyaaaak, ah, ahhhhh...!

Screams could be heard from the corridor. The screams broke off and crumbled into groans. Crash, bang, thud... The sound of glass breaking and something hitting with dull thuds could be heard. The crushed screams continued echoing through the corridor.

Kim Ra-hee and Seong Ha-yeon, who had left the classroom after hearing the evacuation order broadcast throughout the school, then tried to return to the classroom after hearing it was misinformation, had their faces harden.

"What, what, what, what kind of sound is that?"

Kim Ra-hee stopped walking while stammering. Seong Ha-yeon looked around and opened her mouth.

"Could it be true that taxidermy really appeared...?"

"Hey, no. Don’t say such ominous things..."

Seong Ha-yeon looked outside through the window. First-year students were pouring out of the building with terror-stricken faces. She didn’t know if it was true that taxidermy had appeared, which had once terrorized an entire city, but anyway, something seemed to have happened.

"Should we evacuate? But didn’t they say the taxidermy appearance was misinformation earlier?"

"That could be a lie in reverse, couldn’t it? The second broadcast had a strange atmosphere..."

"Then what should we believe? What on earth is what..."

"For now... I think it would be better to believe the first broadcast."

At times like this, the best policy was to evacuate first and see. If you didn’t evacuate and got caught up in an incident, you would be the one to suffer damage. If you evacuated and it turned out nothing had happened, there would still be no loss.

Based on quick judgment, Seong Ha-yeon tried to lead Kim Ra-hee out of the building.

The two who had been hurrying their steps stopped only when they reached the stairs. Fear appeared on both their faces. Seong Ha-yeon was trying to act calm, but she couldn’t hide the trembling in her pupils.

"Hello there!"

A woman greeted them while alternately staring at the two. She had very short hair and an overall refreshing impression. Her manner of speaking was cheerful and her expression was the same. Her teeth revealed with her smile were white and neat. The woman crawled on the floor and approached the two.

No, she ’rolled’ toward them.

The woman had no body below her neck and only had a head.

"Wait just a moment! I’ll roll over there right away!"

"Ah, uh. Hey, what..."

"Huh? No, uh, you don’t need to come. No, don’t come...!"

Kim Ra-hee and Seong Ha-yeon staggered backward to avoid the approaching head.

They wanted to turn around and run away, but their legs wouldn’t move properly. They felt like if they tried to run away half-heartedly, their knees would buckle and they’d collapse.

"Don’t run away! I’m not a strange person!"

"Bull, bullshit. Anyone can see you’re strange!"

Kim Ra-hee, who had belatedly come to her senses, shouted. The head showed an exaggerated smile as if making a face.

"I’m not! My friends are coming soon too!"

"Friends...?"

Ta-da-da-da-da-da.

While Seong Ha-yeon was voicing her question, bizarre sounds came from the stairs. It sounded like a giant bug rapidly crawling up with dozens of legs.

The head’s ’friends’ quickly climbed the stairs and stood in front of Seong Ha-yeon and Kim Ra-hee.

"Upper body here!"

"Lower body here!"

The head’s friends were two. Upper body and lower body respectively. The upper body had its mouth attached to the solar plexus, and the lower body had its mouth attached to the crotch. The upper body moved by pressing the floor with its arms, and the lower body walked with its legs.

Head, upper body, lower body. The three looked at Seong Ha-yeon and Kim Ra-hee.

The upper body and lower body had no eyes, but Seong Ha-yeon felt they were looking at her. Her body trembled with fear. No thoughts came to mind. Even the thought of running away was becoming dim.

"Don’t tremble too much!"

Then, the head rolled on the floor and opened its mouth.

"You just need to pass the quiz and we’ll let you all go! You don’t need to worry too much!"

"Quiz!"

"Quiz! Quiz!"

The lower body hopped by bending and straightening its knees. The upper body did push-ups in the air by pressing the ground with its arms. The head rolled around.

At that point, Seong Ha-yeon stopped thinking. If she held onto consciousness any longer, she felt like she would go completely insane.

The head stopped rolling and opened its mouth.

"First is the person on my right!"

"Me, me?"

Kim Ra-hee panicked and staggered backward. The upper body and lower body were dancing by bending and straightening their joints.

The head approached Kim Ra-hee with a smile, then began rolling around her feet in circles.

"Yes! You! Here comes the question! Among the following, who is lying?"

"One of Lot’s daughters who was fleeing from Sodom looked back and became a pillar of salt!"

The upper body said.

"Lot’s two daughters who safely escaped from Sodom received their father’s seed to continue the lineage!"

The lower body said. Kim Ra-hee’s expression hardened upon hearing the story.

"No, but I haven’t studied that part yet...!"

"Answer quickly! I’ll give you 10 seconds to think! 10!"

The head rolled around Kim Ra-hee’s feet while urging her. Kim Ra-hee covered her mouth while pondering, tilting her head and glancing at Seong Ha-yeon. Seong Ha-yeon was still spacing out. She wasn’t feeling reality in the scene unfolding before her eyes.

"9!"

Time was flowing. Kim Ra-hee turned her head. First, she pondered the upper body’s words.

She vaguely remembered hearing that one of Lot’s family members looked back while fleeing and became a pillar of salt, but she couldn’t remember who it was.

"8!"

Next, she pondered the lower body’s words.

Lot’s two daughters received their father’s seed to continue the lineage... Wasn’t Lot supposed to be righteous? But he did such things? Does that make sense?

"7!"

"..."

Both seemed to be lying, and both seemed to be telling the truth.

Kim Ra-hee regretted neglecting her biblical studies. Even in the midst of this, time was flowing. Should she just guess? The probability is 50% anyway. No, but what if she gets it wrong? What if she gets it wrong and something terrible happens?

"Ha-yeon."

The pondering Kim Ra-hee covered her mouth with her palm and whispered quietly to Seong Ha-yeon. Focus finally returned to Seong Ha-yeon’s eyes that had been blankly staring into space. Kim Ra-hee sent signals to Seong Ha-yeon with her eyes. Seong Ha-yeon, who understood the intention in Kim Ra-hee’s eyes, nodded and opened her mouth.

"The answer is the upper body. It was the wife, not the daughter, who became salt."

"No, not that."

Kim Ra-hee shook her head. She hadn’t sent a signal asking Seong Ha-yeon to tell her the answer.

Even if she got the answer right, there was no guarantee those things would let them go obediently. It would be better to receive a blessing from Seong Ha-yeon, subdue the head, upper body, and lower body completely, and escape the building.

Seong Ha-yeon was naturally weak and powerless, so receiving blessings wouldn’t mean much. Kim Ra-hee was also weak, but still better than Seong Ha-yeon. If she received blessings from Seong Ha-yeon and fought, she could somehow win.

Those taxidermy looked like three, but they were just one body divided into three pieces. It looked like 1:3, but in reality it was no different from 1:1.

"...Use a blessing on me. Anything useful for combat..."

Crack!

A kick flew to the jaw of Kim Ra-hee, who was giving instructions to Seong Ha-yeon with this thought. It was a kick from the lower body.

"You just need to get the answer right, so why do you keep talking about other things! Your mouth is always the problem!"

Thud.

The head headbutted the fallen Kim Ra-hee’s mouth.

"Your mouth is the problem! Your mouth!"

Crack.

Then the upper body wildly punched her mouth.

"Mouth!"

Crunch.

The lower body stepped on her mouth with its foot. Several teeth broke and rolled on the floor. Blood flowed from her burst lips. Kim Ra-hee’s face became bloody in an instant. The head rolled toward her as she leaned against the wall, opening and closing her mouth.

"3 seconds!"

"Ah, cough, ha..."

"Unfortunately, ’ha’ is not the correct answer! I’ll give you another chance! Please choose between the upper body and lower body!"

"..."

"If you don’t know, just guess! It’s 50% anyway! 2 seconds!"

Even while being beaten by taxidermy and in a confused mental state, Kim Ra-hee held onto her sanity until the end.

According to Seong Ha-yeon’s words, the one lying was the upper body. She just needed to say upper body. If she said upper body, it would work. Upper body, she just needed to say that...

"U, ah... U, ahhh...!"

Her teeth were broken and her lips were burst. There was no way she could speak properly. Her pronunciation was slurred and she couldn’t get the word "upper body" out of her mouth.

Tears flowed. The fact that she knew the answer but couldn’t speak it was frustrating, and she was afraid of the aftermath that would come from not getting the answer right.

"Oh dear... you couldn’t get the correct answer after all... But there’s still hope!"

"..."

"If the white-haired student gets the answer right, I’ll let both of you go! This kind of opportunity doesn’t come often!"

Leaving behind Kim Ra-hee who had fallen bloody, the head approached Seong Ha-yeon. Seong Ha-yeon no longer had the strength to step backward.

She had been quietly watching her friend Kim Ra-hee getting beaten.

The taxidermy’s movements were agile and strong. Even if I had stepped in, I wouldn’t have been able to stop it. She justified her helplessness that way.

Meanwhile, the head had approached Seong Ha-yeon’s feet and was rolling in circles around her.

"Now, here comes the question right away! Between the upper body and lower body, who is lying? One of them is lying! The other is telling the truth!"

"The lower body is telling the truth!"

The upper body said.

"The upper body is lying!"

The lower body said. The head rolled on the floor with a delighted smile.

"I’ll give you the same 10 seconds! Oh, this question is a bit difficult, so shall we make it 15 seconds? How about it?"

"...What does it matter."

"Pardon?"

The head asked back with a puzzled expression. Kim Ra-hee was leaning against the wall, staring at Seong Ha-yeon with blood-soaked pupils. With her mouth that wouldn’t open, she was muttering something.

’Get it right’... ’Just get it right’... Kim Ra-hee’s mouth shape was saying that.

Seong Ha-yeon hung her head and bit her nails to suppress tears. Along with fear, the pressure of having to get the problem right was being added.

When she finished biting her nails, she bit her fingers. Blood came from her fingertips. When the taste of blood filled her mouth, Seong Ha-yeon stopped biting her fingers and opened her mouth.

"Whether it’s 10 seconds or 15 seconds, it doesn’t matter for this problem..."

"Huh? Why is it the same? I’m giving you a whole 5 more seconds!"

The head answered shamelessly. She wanted to kick the head and burst it, but she didn’t even have the energy to do that.

Seong Ha-yeon continued to bow her head as if she would bury it in the ground and opened her mouth.

"Neither of them... is lying."

"Huh? Then are both telling the truth?"

"No, they’re not telling... the truth either..."

"So what’s the answer? I just need to hear that!"

"The answer is... ’none.’ The reason is... if you deny one, the other also becomes a denial..."

"I hate both-sideists! Choose just one and tell me!"

"What, what. Neither is the correct answer, so how..."

Then, the head that had been rolling around Seong Ha-yeon’s feet stopped moving. The head stared intently at Seong Ha-yeon with a cold, expressionless face.

The head’s eyebrows, eyes, nose, and mouth wriggled. It wasn’t movement possible with human facial muscles. The head turned red with anger and shouted.

"Choose just one! Choose just one!"

"That’s such nonsense...!"

"You guys are the same! You guys also made us choose just one!"

Bloody tears flowed from the head’s eyes. The upper body and lower body hopped toward Seong Ha-yeon.

Then they circled around Seong Ha-yeon along with the head. Like inquisitors dancing around a burning witch, they danced and screamed.

"They asked if I was a witch and asked if I wasn’t a witch, and if I said I was a witch they killed me, and if I said I wasn’t a witch they killed me too, so both were correct answers and both were not correct answers. I had to choose one of them."

"They were planning to kill me anyway. You guys just liked setting fires. Whether I said I was a witch or not a witch, you were going to kill me."

"I originally had long hair, but you guys cut it and chopped it up and burned it. I originally had long hair..."

Clatter, roll roll roll, clatter.

The upper body and lower body pounded the ground. The head rolled around. Teeth hit the floor making crack, crack sounds. Seong Ha-yeon collapsed. The taxidermy danced around her as the center. While doing so, they talked about witch hunts.

Witch hunts happened a long time ago. Seong Ha-yeon wasn’t even born then. Even when the Holy War with Voodoo broke out, she was too young.

In the days when she knew nothing, the Holy War that swept by like a storm was now just an old story that no longer remained in her memory.

"That’s not my fault! That, that’s not my fault...!"

Seong Ha-yeon screamed desperately. Her vision was blurry. The three chunks of taxidermy dancing around her were appearing crosswise before her eyes. The taxidermy danced and opened their mouths in unison.

"I didn’t do anything wrong either!"

"Me too, me too...!"

Their voices came from all directions. The sound spun around her ears. She felt nauseous and dizzy. Cold sweat poured out. Later, she couldn’t even distinguish whether the taxidermy were circling around her or if she was just spinning.

Rumble!

Thunder roared. Lightning flashed beyond the window.

Blood suddenly poured from her nose. Seong Ha-yeon closed her eyes and covered her ears. She felt she couldn’t bear it otherwise.

However, the voices of the head, upper body, and lower body came through the palms covering her ears. Their voices were still clear and distinct, as if they were heard through her head rather than her ears. Blood kept flowing from her nose. Blood drops fell on the floor.

"Answer! Who is lying..."

Crash!

Then, glass broke. A sharp wind rushed through the broken window. The wind was strong but never excessive.

The wind penetrated her skin and dried the cold sweat that had accumulated all over Seong Ha-yeon’s body. It was somehow a kind wind. Seong Ha-yeon carefully opened her eyes when she realized she could no longer hear the taxidermy’s voices.

He appeared with the wind. The fierce and sharp wind was subsiding gently and refreshingly around Do Seon-woo.

"Head."

Crack!

Do Seon-woo said. Then he kicked the head that had been circling around Seong Ha-yeon. The head hit the wall and burst. Do Seon-woo was staring at that sight with extremely cold eyes.

Seong Ha-yeon momentarily felt her mind become distant. His cold and vacant eyes resembled the hunters who had tried to cut off her arm when she was young.

When the head burst, the upper body and lower body also lost strength and collapsed limply in place. Do Seon-woo approached Seong Ha-yeon regardless of the water dripping from being soaked in rain.

Then he roughly grabbed her hand. An ugly scar remained on her palm. She tried to hide it by making a fist, but he didn’t let her.

Do Seon-woo forcibly opened Seong Ha-yeon’s palm. He alternately looked at Seong Ha-yeon’s scar and face, then opened his mouth.

"Who did you show this to?"

"What, what did I show to whom...?"

Seong Ha-yeon asked while pulling her body back. Do Seon-woo stared clearly into Seong Ha-yeon’s eyes and asked again.

"This, the scar. Who did you show it to besides me?"

Strong obsession was contained in his pupils looking at her. It was a frightening but strangely compelling gaze.