Chapter 44

“Khff, puhuhu…”

Usher covered his mouth, snickering under his breath.

He couldn’t help it—he was thoroughly amused.

“Shall I go ahead and name the teammate I’ll be sending back now, Your Honor?”

“Huh? Ahaha, Candidate, you’re joking, right? Sending back someone as useful as me?”

That smile Nemesia had when she so nonchalantly chose to send him outside—

It was wide and cheerful, sure, but it had masked a smirk.

‘She’s no ordinary kid, is she?’

Usher slowly lowered his eyes.

“Thrilling…”

He made eye contact with the still-sobbing child across from him. Putting on a kindly expression, he gave a gentle smile like a benevolent adult.

“Candidate?”

Soon, the child’s eyes began to glaze over.

“Forget everything I said here, alright, Candidate? Just cry it out in peace, okay?”

“…Okay…”

The child nodded slowly.

Having effortlessly brainwashed the kid, Usher stroked his chin.

‘Can something this tempting really be within reach?’

He was becoming increasingly greedy.

Not knowing the truth behind the ‘hostage,’ Usher completely misunderstood.

A pope candidate who could so easily and boldly sacrifice a civilian for the sake of a goal?

‘That’s… almost the perfect kind of talent for us.’

All talent has its flip side, after all.

“Recruitment, huh…”

What if one of the leading pope candidates fell… and turned into a fanatic?

What could be more exhilarating than that?

“I’ll step out for a bit, Candidate. Feel free to cry all you want.”

“…Okay…”

Whistling, Usher stepped outside.

He couldn’t wait to see Nemesia again—but she hadn’t yet made it out of the trial.

On top of that, since he was sent out so suddenly, he hadn’t even had the chance to fully exploit the trial’s “Truth-Only” brainwashing effect.

‘What an absolute shame.’

But really, when was there ever only one shot at something?

Not long after—

Usher ran into someone.

“What’s your name?”

“S-Squire… B-Bennett… sir!”

Not quite as interesting as Nemesia, perhaps, but still quite the catch.

Maybe even a stepping stone toward a new opportunity.

* * *

A few days later.

I sat at a desk, frowning deeply, staring ahead.

Dangling loosely from my hand was a tiny object.

‘…I didn’t ask for a reward like this…!’

In my hand was a small children’s bracelet… with a skull charm.

The same one I found right after we hunted down the Dog-Headed Judge.

And if you looked closely… yep, the skull had dog ears.

‘Even if I throw it away, it just comes back.’

It was the first item I received after defeating a Paranormal-class aberration, so it had to be useful, right?

But it gave me the creeps. Even when I tried throwing it away or leaving it behind, it always came back to my hand.

And I couldn’t even appraise it yet.

[Level up to unlock item information!]

That was the only message I got.

‘A cursed bind-on-pickup item that looks like this… just lovely.’

I remembered those dog-head freaks saying they “wanted to keep watching” and whatnot. Just the thought made my skin crawl.

Still, the aftermath was handled smoothly.

“Candidate!!”

Right after I’d finished the trial and stepped out—

Officials from the Order, pale as corpses, rushed over to me and Daddy.

“We’re so sorry, truly sorry…!”

“There must’ve been a law we didn’t detect… something triggered the anomaly!”

From their perspective, having a “distortion” activate mid-trial and summon an absurdly difficult aberration must’ve felt like a full-blown disaster.

‘They must’ve gone out of their way to pick the safest monster possible.’

And then they went and trapped every candidate in there.

I got it. I understood. Still, seeing their eyes bloodshot from worry was kind of terrifying.

‘I basically just showed them I was alive and then passed out.’

It was a miracle I’d lasted that long. The backlash from Child Actor, plus the way I overused Purification past my limits…

I ended up unconscious for two full days, and when I finally came to, I was back in my room.

Naturally, Daddy was sitting right beside me like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“…You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good now. I’m hungry.”

We exchanged some small talk, and that was when I noticed the skull bracelet again.

Daddy stared closely at the item in my hand, then gave a serious nod.

“That’s impressive.”

“…Huh? What is?”

“How far back did you plan this?”

At that point, I still didn’t get what he meant.

Not until he said the next part.

“Was this all just the groundwork… to become a perfect fanatic?”

“…?”

What kind of deranged misunderstanding was that?! How did you even come to that conclusion?!

I was so stunned I opened and closed my mouth like a fish before finally managing to set the record straight.

He’d seen me resolve a Paranormal-class aberration head-on and apparently decided it had to be part of some elaborate plan to fool the fanatics.

‘Wow, I really screwed up my early education…’

He must’ve seen me chatting with the fanatic Connector and thought every single thing I did was a calculated move to deceive the cult.

“It’s absolutely not! Not even close!”

“…Really?”

“Don’t look so disappointed—seriously, it’s not!”

I mean, he wasn’t entirely wrong… but I’d only done that in front of the Dog-Heads because I wanted out, okay?

Thankfully, since everyone now agreed that all pope candidates needed a proper break, the scheduled lessons were canceled.

And because I woke up so close to the next candidate gathering, I hadn’t had much chance to talk to Daddy more.

But now—

‘Ugh, things got so chaotic I didn’t even get to drown Daddy in praise like I planned.’

I’d have to absolutely smother him with compliments later.

As I was glaring at the bracelet in my hand again with that thought in mind…

Someone approached me.

This was the gathering site for the candidates, so of course there were other kids around.

‘Two candidates died in that trial, right?’

Technically, it was two kids and three Guardians who disappeared. A bitter reality.

I looked up—and saw a familiar face.

“H-Hey…”

The oldest candidate of the bunch.

Gidehme.

That sour, smug look from before was nowhere to be seen. His pale face told me he’d been through some serious emotional turmoil too.

‘Well, makes sense. He lost his Guardian… and the psychological trauma must’ve been brutal.’

The feeling of having sacrificed someone with your own hands doesn’t go away easily.

I remembered lines from the game’s protagonist, confessing to being haunted by nightmares.

“What, you here to pick another fight…?”

I asked, pretending to be shy—though honestly, it probably didn’t matter much now.

Gidehme flinched in surprise.

“N-No! Not at all!”

Under the rules, Guardians waited near the door, so if anything happened, Daddy would be able to rush over instantly.

I glanced at the door briefly, then turned my gaze back to Gidehme, silently telling him, Say what you came to say.

“I, uh…”

He stammered, struggling to get the words out.

“I just… wanted to… say th-thanks…”

“Say what? Gorilla?”

“No! That’s not what I—”
 

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Translator: Japchae