After finishing breakfast, the family members headed to their respective workplaces and school. Only Heeyeon remained.
"We're off!"
The sight of the children leaving with energetic voices was the same as always. Heeyeon saw them off with a smile.
But her face immediately darkened as her family disappeared from sight. Only an inexplicable sense of suffocation weighed her down.
Heeyeon was filled with worry.
Everything seemed to be going well, but that was only on the surface.
Right now, everyone in the family felt a slight sense of unease. Perhaps they were feeling the tension of the calm before a storm.
They didn't talk about it. They lived as usual. But all the family members knew.
It was because their eldest son seemed to be up to something again.
It was always like this.
The eldest son didn't talk much with the family, spending time alone instead. And every time he did, something happened. Seeing her eldest son giving off that kind of atmosphere now, Heeyeon only felt frustrated.
She couldn't deny that her son, who had changed at some point, was a reliable pillar of the family, but he always brought with him the anxiety that she never knew what might happen or when.
Of course, the eldest son was the pillar who, in a sense, rebuilt the family.
But at the same time, seeing her son constantly visiting the police station, Heeyeon felt something inside her heart collapse.
If the cause was her son's fault, it might have been better. However, his visits to the police station were always caused by others.
Sometimes, he even went to the police station for the sake of someone else. Perhaps that was unavoidable.
Yet, from a mother's perspective, watching her eldest son continually get caught up in incidents was too difficult.
Perhaps this was the so-called growing pain.
Her child had already gone to a place beyond her reach. He might have become a troublemaker, but perhaps this was happening because she still thought of him as the son from his childhood.
But the events unfolding before her always went beyond Heeyeon's imagination, making her feel even afraid now.
She desperately wanted to ask what had changed her son, but no one would be able to answer her.
She was scared.
The thought that if something happened this time, her son might go to a place from which he could never return, gripped Heeyeon.
Of course, that wouldn't happen.
But as a family member, she couldn't help but notice. No matter how insensitive one was, this was her beloved eldest son.
The changed son would no longer be tied to the home.
Watching her eldest son leave this morning, Heeyeon only felt powerless at the fact that all she could do was simply pray in her anxiety, indefinitely.
Heeyeon thought she wanted to have a serious talk with him sometime.
But the fear that everything might collapse if she spoke up always gripped Heeyeon.
The worry that something might go wrong like this, combined with the fact that she lacked the courage to speak out, slowly accumulated.
Heeyeon sighed again.
Praying for her son to return safely. That was the only thing she could do.
Jihyeon listened to his school lecture and thought. He would have to prepare much more than expected.
The fight with the cult from now on would likely be incomparable to the previous incidents.
They were connected to the source of the power Jihyeon possessed.
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Moreover, they could mobilize clueless fanatics to commit acts of terror. It was impossible to win against such people without preparation.
The important thing was to crush their leaders.
If the cult collapsed, other cults might flock in someday, but that was a matter for later.
For now, he had to crush the existing cult. As they were connected to Jihyeon, their importance was greater than anything else.
However, Jihyeon did not rush. He didn't think everything would be dealt with at once.
There were opponents with power equal to his.
It was something he absolutely shouldn't guarantee victory against. Just recently, an enemy appeared whom Jihyeon's power couldn't stun.
How much more difficult would it be to deal with those who could use the power of fire or other forces?
He had to make any preparations necessary to counter such opponents. To do this, Jihyeon searched for knowledge throughout the lecture and organized the useful information.
Of course, the professor was not very pleased with Jihyeon's behavior, but he merely gave an uncomfortable smile to the student who answered his questions perfectly.
And after the class, Jihyeon slowly began purchasing the items he needed to gather.
"Phew... Is this enough?"
His allowance was sufficient. Still, he didn't want to engage in excessive spending. Selecting only what was truly necessary, Jihyeon felt that the time was not far off.
Fortunately, his family was being guarded by the Master's subordinates. Although he didn't expect much from them, just buying enough time to escape was enough.
Hoping that the worst-case scenario would not happen, Jihyeon began preparing for the decisive battle, one by one. It would probably be soon. Something would be settled within a few days.
In his undeniable anxiety, Jihyeon organized what he needed to do as calmly as possible.
The General Manager was quietly doing his work in his room, as always. Even a religious organization that pursued a life detached from the secular world was now in a difficult situation due to the recent events.
Someone had attacked the cult over tax issues.
Religious corporations also had to be thorough about taxes, but in the past, they had engaged in tax evasion to enrich themselves. And that had come back to bite them.
Thanks to this, the cult was in utter chaos now. Everyone was just running around in confusion.
Amidst this, there were those ignorant of such matters who tried to ruin things by making ridiculous statements. They were fools, but they had relatively loud voices, which caused the devotees to waver.
Unable to bear the sight, the General Manager used his own authority to suppress them. And then, he took charge and began to lead everything.
The goal was to prevent the seizure of bank accounts and minimize the damage. There was no way to avoid damage. Quite a lot of money would go towards taxes. But if it ended there, they could call it a success.
If he were to let go, the cult would be completely destroyed economically. Everything that had been prepared for a long time would collapse.
To prevent that, the General Manager showed a completely different side from his usual listlessness. His voice was filled with cold anger, yet his precise instructions were able to draw out the limits of the devotees beneath him.
However, the General Manager's eyes remained only empty.
Unlike the other two, he had already lost attachment to everything. Only a dry sense of duty drove him like this.
At one time, the General Manager desired power more strongly than anyone else. He was secretly pleased when his competitors incurred the Leader's wrath for making unnecessary remarks and turned to ash, and he even offered his own daughter as the former Leader's adopted daughter.
But having learned the truth, he no longer had any passion. He merely carried out the duties assigned to his position mechanically. Considering his usual demeanor, what he was doing in the current situation was utterly unbelievable.
But regardless, at this moment, the General Manager was the most reliable person available. No one would have expected him to prove that he was also a priest of the cult and fully qualified to be the Leader's successor in this way.
No one would know that the person himself was struggling with his position and writhing over the sins of his past.
"Haa..."
Sighing, the General Manager paused his work briefly. Then he took out his phone and looked for his daughter's photo.
His mistake.
And the price of the truth.
The General Manager understood what he had done for the first time when his daughter lost consciousness.
In that moment, his life completely crumbled. He knew better than anyone that he could no longer be forgiven by anyone, yet he also knew that he could no longer turn back.
His unavoidable progression even in the void must have been because he could no longer step down.
The power that resided in his body was certainly one that could change everything. But it was a curse.
He might lose everything forever, but still, the General Manager could not step down.
For the priest of the cult, the man filled with countless sins, there was no choice.
The only remaining hope was his daughter's recovery.
However, although the cult doctors were doing their best to treat his daughter, no one knew when she would regain consciousness.
Or perhaps, that was why the General Manager was bound. His daughter was a hostage.
The General Manager knew because he was closest to the truth.
They could indeed wake his daughter again. But they weren't doing so merely to ensure the General Manager would work.
If the General Manager were to give up, his daughter would no longer be a living person. So the General Manager had to keep working. As they wished, hoping that his daughter would not die.
"Haa..."
The General Manager sighed, turning off his phone. He could never show this side of himself in front of others.
The General Manager, the priest who had deceived countless people and led the cult, dared not show his emotions to others. It was a deception he should not commit.
It was his remaining fate to live every moment in pain.
If he were a priest who truly believed in God, he wouldn't be this tormented. But they did not believe in God. They already knew that the god they created was something that could never be called a deity.
His stopped hands began to move again.
The General Manager simply focused on his work to forget his suffering. His former self, whom his now-divorced wife disliked so much, was now his only salvation.
If he was engrossed in work and didn't think about anything, his mind would be at peace. In the nightmare that would continue until someone killed him, the General Manager simply concentrated everything on what he had to do.
