Please Stop The Pope

At first, I thought the prayer was heard by coincidence as soon as I was granted the ability by Limen.

However, I quickly realized that it was not a coincidence.

【Please save our dad. Take a bad person like me instead…】

When I close my eyes, I can vaguely see the figure of a boy.

In what looks like a hospital emergency room, a boy earnestly praying while holding the hand of a man lying on the hospital bed.

That boy, who seems to be around the same age as our Si-yeon, did not just “happen” to pray at the time I was granted the role.

【Our dad… A miracle for our dad too…】

The boy had been praying long before.

And only now did that earnest prayer of the boy reach my ears.

I frowned and quietly looked out the window.

Pitter-patter-.

A light rainfall was tapping on the window.

“Originally, I was going to run with just Leo, but thanks to you, we’re going comfortably. Thank you, Team Leader Kim.”

“We almost had a sensational headline like ‘Mysterious creature appears, threatening the night of Seoul?’ in tomorrow morning’s news.”

“Wouldn’t that be fun in its own way?”

“…I recently went to the hospital because I was losing hair, and they said it was stress-induced hair loss. Haha…”

Our Team Leader Kim Dong-shik, who now feels like my personal secretary, said he only goes home after I go home.

Naturally, he couldn’t leave work because I was at the temple until late, and he decided to take us to our destination late at night.

Even if Team Leader Kim wasn’t there, we planned to run to our destination.

The destination was the emergency room of a university hospital located in Suwon.

The moment I heard the boy’s earnest prayer, I instantly knew where the boy was.

I could only say that the effect of the authority granted by Limen was tremendous.

“I should start going home early from now on. Your wife must really dislike me, Team Leader Kim.”

“She’s proud of it.”

“Pardon?”

“She’s very proud of me helping you, Shi Yu. Maybe it’s because my wife is also from the Ministry of Ability Management.”

Why do I feel strange when I hear that?

I hesitated about what to say, then leaned back on the seat and spoke.

“If I have time, I’ll treat you to a meal.”

“Just your words are enough, thank you. Shi Yu, we’ve arrived at the destination.”

“…That was fast.”

“I stepped on it a bit since it seemed urgent. I’ll park and follow you in, so please go ahead first.”

“You can go off work now.”

“Don’t worry. The overtime pay is quite substantial.”

At Team Leader Kim’s words, I slightly nodded my head and got out of the car with Leo.

Then, the entrance of the university hospital soon came into view.

“Let’s go in.”

“Yes, Your Holiness.”

As we entered the hospital, the unique smell of disinfectant from the hospital was sensed.

I’ve never been on good terms with hospitals, then or now, so it feels awkward.

Leo glanced around, seemingly intrigued by the hospital he was visiting for the first time, but didn’t show it much.

Like that, we quietly headed towards the emergency room.

But after a moment.

“If you’re not a guardian, you can’t go in.”

A hospital employee guarding the front of the emergency room stopped us.

…It was an completely unexpected obstacle.

I smiled awkwardly and said to the employee.

“We came to see a patient inside.”

“What is the patient’s name?”

I was stumped.

How would I know the name? I only know the voice and appearance to some extent.

“So…”

As I hesitated to answer, the employee looked at me suspiciously.

Seeing him put his hand on the walkie-talkie at his waist, it seems he’ll call security if things go awry.

Let’s at least try to say something.

“We’re not bad people. We just came to see our brothers in the emergency room…”

“So, what is that patient’s name?”

“Well. Is the name… important?”

Despite my wit, the employee mercilessly brought the walkie-talkie to his mouth.

“…Please send some security personnel to the emergency room. Strange outsiders are attempting to enter the emergency room.”

He was truly an employee with a strong sense of duty.

Just as we were about to be caught by the security personnel without being able to move.

“We’re from the Ministry of Ability Management .”

Team Leader Kim, who finished parking in an instant, appeared and started to resolve the situation.

Team Leader Kim skillfully took out his government employee ID from his inner pocket and said.

“We will vouch for their identities, so please grant them entry. It’s an urgent matter.”

“Did the patient who came in earlier bleeding cause some problem?”

“That is classified information that I cannot disclose. We would appreciate your cooperation.”

Although people say the Ministry of Ability Management is pushed around, it seems to be a pretty scary organization to ordinary people.

The employee, who had been suspicious of us until just now, hurriedly stepped aside.

At the employee’s frightened expression, I quietly whispered in Team Leader Kim’s ear.

“Won’t this lead to complaints about abuse of power?”

“As long as you don’t cause any accidents, Shi Yu.”

“…Ah, yes.”

Still, it was a good idea to come with Team Leader Kim.

If it were just me and Leo, we would have been dragged to the police station for unauthorized entry into the emergency room.

I slightly nodded my head, then slowly entered the emergency room.

“I see him over there.”

“Truly a pure and truly beautiful seed.”

The owner of the prayer was not far away.

A hospital bed was visible as soon as we entered the emergency room.

A man lay on the bed with his eyes closed, and a small boy held the man’s hand with his eyes closed next to him.

I quietly approached the child.

And gently placing my hand on the child’s head, I said.

“Hello?”

Then the boy slowly opened his eyes.

His eyelids were swollen as if he had been crying continuously, and his eyes were also bloodshot.

It was so pitiful.

“…Huh?”

The boy blinked at me for a long time, and I stroked his head again and said.

“I heard your prayer and came. Sorry for being late.”

Jin Seung-woo.

The name of the boy who had been continuously praying was Jin Seung-woo.

The man whose hand Seung-woo was tightly holding was Seung-woo’s father.

Seung-woo’s father was not in good condition.

There were knife wounds all over his body and mana traces proving that he had been damaged by mana.

“By the time he arrived here, it was already a situation difficult to improve. We took surgical emergency measures such as hemostasis, but due to severe damage from mana, we were unable to take additional measures.”

The doctor was briefing us on the patient’s condition, probably because he heard that we came from the Ministry of Ability Management .

Team Leader Kim, who had been quietly listening to the doctor’s briefing, frowned and asked the doctor.

“As far as I know, medical institutions above the general hospital level are required to have equipment necessary for mana detoxification, so why didn’t you take action?”

At Team Leader Kim’s question, the doctor answered with an awkward expression.

“Of course we have it too. But…”

“It’s because of the medical expenses.”

“…I apologize. As you know, the price of elixirs consumed for mana detoxification is enormous, so we cannot take action without upper-level approval or prepayment of treatment costs.”

“Huh.”

I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh at those words.

Perhaps I had only been looking at the surface of society since I returned.

A situation where they can treat but don’t.

However, the hospital side couldn’t be blamed outright either.

“Moreover, patient Jin Seo-joon has a considerable amount of unpaid medical expenses, so we had no choice.”

“Unpaid medical expenses?”

“It’s because of me.”

It was none other than Seung-woo who responded to the doctor’s words.

Seung-woo continued speaking with difficulty, his head deeply bowed.

“Because I was sick, Dad worked without rest. It’s all because of me. Dad…”

A voice wet with tears.

At that voice, I just smiled bitterly and stroked the boy’s head once again.

“Everything will be alright.”

“Shi Yu, we will handle the costs on our side, so how about going into surgery right now?”

At Team Leader Kim’s words, I waved my hand and said.

“I can’t cause you that much trouble.”

“But if we don’t take action now, this patient will…”

Team Leader Kim trailed off while looking at Seung-woo.

I know too.

If the mana spreads to the internal organs, Seung-woo’s father will have no choice but to die.

“If the Ministry of Ability Management  wishes, we will report to the higher-ups and take immediate action.”

The doctor, who had been listening to our conversation, said.

I smiled at him and replied.

“Was this a problem that could be solved so easily?”

“Shi Yu, treating mana damage is not an easy task on Earth.”

At Team Leader Kim’s words, I said with a powerless smile.

“Every time I see things like this, I realize that this place is Earth.”

It seems that only the outer appearance covering society has changed, but the essence has not.

Honestly, I don’t have much interest in social structures or welfare.

Because even before crossing over to Eden, I was busy making ends meet.

However.

“It just grates on my eyes. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

I just felt unpleasant at the thought that quite a few people would have died this way.

The doctor carefully opened his mouth upon hearing my words.

“We will start treatment right away.”

“You guys just stay still as you have been. You wouldn’t have been able to completely cure him even if you intervened anyway.”

Perhaps his pride was hurt, the doctor frowned and said.

“Our hospital’s mana poisoning treatment is recognized as top-notch even in Korea.”

“Can I take that to mean that you were watching a person die with that recognized level?”

“…That’s.”

“Leo. I’ll finish it quickly, so keep people from approaching.”

“Yes, Your Holiness.”

Leo slightly nodded his head and made the rest of the people, including Seung-woo, move away from the hospital bed.

“What are you doing now?!”

“What am I doing? What you guys can’t do.”

The white holy power flowing from my hand seeped into Seung-woo’s father’s body.

Mana injuries were relatively common injuries in Eden.

Of course, surgical procedures were incomparably poor compared to Earth, but it was true that Eden was far superior to Earth when it came to mana injuries.

I don’t know how Earth’s medicine has developed since the Dimension Opening, but at least in Eden, the injuries Seung-woo’s father sustained could be healed without much difficulty.

Woooong-!

The holy power quickly circulates inside the body of Seung-woo’s father lying on the hospital bed.

The external wounds have already been properly treated by the hospital, so it’s just a matter of enhancing the natural healing power.

And the remnants of mana left here and there will also quickly fade away due to the holy power.

But what I was looking for was something else.

The unpleasant and sinister energy I had been feeling since earlier.

“…Found it.”

[An evil magical energy is detected.]

It was definitely a magical energy.

A magical energy that had been hiding its presence between the knife wounds and mana traces.

The magical energy that sensed the holy power tried to quickly spread in all directions, but.

Fwoosh-!

The magical energy soon burned away without a trace by my holy power.

“Your Holiness. This is…”

“It seems they were attacked by magical energy users.”

There is only one case where someone else’s magical energy infiltrates the human body.

Whether it’s magic or a sword.

When exposed to an attack by a magical energy user.

In this case, there were clear wounds left by the injuries, so it would be wounds inflicted by a player who mainly uses a sword.

Then, I suddenly remembered the content of the prayer Seung-woo had made earlier.

He had asked in a voice filled with malice, uncharacteristic of a young child, to make the people who did this to his father pay for their sins.

“Seung-woo.”

At my call, Seung-woo responded while tightly holding his father’s hand.

“…Yes.”

“Your father will be fine now. So can you tell us your story? I heard a prayer asking someone to pay for their sins.”

Did he take my question differently?

Seung-woo bowed his head deeply and said.

“Actually… if Dad is okay, I can… forgive them.”

“Our Seung-woo is really smart, huh? Where did you learn the word forgiveness?”

“I learned it before when I went to church with Mom. They said even sinners should be forgiven.”

“Well, our denomination teaches forgiveness too, but there’s a doctrine we learn before that.”

I pulled up a chair and sat in front of Seung-woo.

And I spoke in a low voice.

“Do not pass by evil, for even standing by is a path to evil.”

How can I just pass by after seeing the magical energy?

And the moment I heard such a small and kind boy praying so desperately, I already had no intention of just passing by.

“Can you tell me what happened?”