The Predatory Genius of a Ruined World

Chapter 20 – A Peaceful Hell (3)

—–CROW—– 

‘A window? Or a ventilation shaft?’

The strange noise he’d been hearing, along with the light, seemed to be coming from there.  Seong-ho approached the crow to identify the source of the light and sound. He crouched down almost flat on the ground and peered through a small window near the base of the wall.  Everything he saw was below his eye level.

‘A basement.’

As soon as he grasped the general layout, he heard a *thud*.  Seong-ho scanned the basement quickly, searching for the source of the sound, and shuddered.  On one side of the basement, people were wielding knives with emotionless faces. They were chopping something crimson, their eyes vacant and unseeing. Seong-ho’s expression hardened as he recognized one of the faces.

‘…Jung Han-soo.’

The man in the photo he had seen earlier in the storage room, the bishop of this cathedral.

* * *

Jung Han-soo looked for his Lord as his and the other priests’ arms were raised high in the air.

‘Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.’

1 Peter 5:7.

‘Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.’

1 Peter 5:8.

These verses urged him to resist the devil’s attacks by staying alert and using his faith as a weapon.  He recited the words of his Lord over and over in his mind, but he couldn’t stop his raised arms from falling with a swift, blue arc.

*Thud, thud, thud.*

Following his lead, the other priests mechanically brought down their knives, their faces devoid of any expression. The blood-soaked scene was truly hell itself.  A hell he could never get used to, despite experiencing it every day.  In the midst of it, Jung Han-soo prayed endlessly to keep himself from going insane.

‘Jehoshaphat, do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.’

2 Chronicles 20:15.

‘Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’

2 Chronicles 20:17.

He had to cast aside his fear, knowing that the Lord God was fighting for him. He knew that the battle was between God and Satan, and he was merely caught in the middle.  If his faith crumbled due to the devil, it would harm God.  He had to act courageously, knowing that God would always win the battle.

‘But what am I to do when I feel like I’m about to break, even though I know this?’

Even if he strengthened his resolve every day, he would crumble again.  Would the day ever come when his faith in God would deliver him from this hell?  Just as he posed this question, tainted with doubt, he sensed a presence behind him.

*Footsteps.*

Jung Han-soo’s nerves were on edge.  The demons who created this hell didn’t come here themselves.  Their method was to greedily devour sin while keeping their hands clean of the actual slaughter. It was he and the other members of the cathedral who suffered this cruel ordeal in place of those demons.

‘Then whose presence is this?’

What kind of trial awaited his brothers and sisters who had fallen into this hell?  Could there be an even worse hell than this?  As his soul, stained with fear, trembled helplessly, he heard a voice.

“That crazy bastard Go Ji-hoon…!”

A suppressed voice echoed, and at the same time, a dull pain shot through his arm, which had been mechanically raised.  The knife he had been gripping fell from his hand.

*Clang.*

His body, beyond his control, moved to pick up the knife again, obeying its commands.  But a somewhat rough, yet careful hand grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.  Only then could Jung Han-soo see the face of the person who had stopped him.  It was a young man with a hardened expression and cold, sharp eyes. And perched on his shoulder was something completely unexpected.

*Caw!*

The mournful cry was familiar.  As Jung Han-soo recognized the familiar creature, the unfamiliar young man pulled his arm back and said,

“…Let’s get some sleep first.”

A sharp pain, strong enough to twist his insides, hit his abdomen, and his consciousness faded.  Even so, Jung Han-soo felt a sense of elation, as if he had reached heaven.

‘Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”’

Matthew 4:10.

Finally, evil had retreated, and salvation had arrived.

* * *

Seong-ho gritted his teeth as he caught Jung Han-soo’s collapsing body.

*Caw!*

*Caw!*

The crow on his shoulder cawed loudly, as if scolding him.  Frowning, Seong-ho pushed the flapping crow off his shoulder.  The crow reacted by making even more noise. Annoyed, Seong-ho swatted at the crow again and snapped,

“Shut up. If you keep squawking like an animal, I’ll throw these people outside.”

He felt pathetic talking to a crow, but surprisingly, the crow quieted down as soon as Seong-ho mentioned the cathedral staff. As if it understood his threat perfectly.  He couldn’t deny it any longer.  This crow was definitely not an ordinary crow.  If it were just an ordinary animal, it wouldn’t have been able to lead him here in the first place.

Of course, there was no way to figure out how this was possible.  He couldn’t exactly ask the crow, could he?

‘It’s a fantasy world, so I guess even the crows are fantasy versions.’

In the end, Seong-ho gave up on thinking too deeply about it.  Instead, he carried Jung Han-soo to a corner and laid him down.  He then proceeded to knock out the other priests and nuns who were still engrossed in their gruesome task, one by one.  Nothing stopped him in the process. Go Ji-hoon, overly confident in his ability, hadn’t stationed any subordinates to manage this place.  It was only natural, as no one would want to stay in this place overflowing with blood and stench.

‘And with the Puppeteer ability, there’s no chance of a traitor emerging from here.’

Seong-ho gathered the cathedral staff in one place. There were six people lying unconscious on the cold floor.  He didn’t remember all their faces, but most of them were the people he had seen in the cathedral’s organizational chart.

‘I thought they would all be dead by now.’

In a way, this was worse than death.  Seong-ho clenched his jaw and searched the basement. He soon found various chains and ropes. Although they were sticky and stained with blood…

‘I can’t just leave these people here.’

Even if he couldn’t sever the strings controlling them right now, he could at least prevent them from committing further acts of slaughter.  As he tied them up, a simmering rage built within him, directed, of course, at Go Ji-hoon, the orchestrator of this tragedy.

‘He chose the easy way out, surviving by consuming human flesh.’

But he had shifted all the difficult work onto others. And he himself only reaped the benefits.

‘Cowardly bastard.’

The people being controlled weren’t brainwashed. They were still aware, only robbed of control over their bodies.  This was too cruel for an ordinary person to endure.

‘It’s a miracle they haven’t gone mad.’

Or perhaps, they were all already mad.  Seong-ho let out a long sigh, heavy with his emotions.

After tying up all the cathedral staff, he stood up, and a truly surreal scene filled his vision.  A crimson scene straight out of a gory game.  The space was filled with corpses and blood.  Standing in this place of carnage, he felt momentarily dizzy. The unsettling feeling of being disconnected from reality.  It was the same feeling he had experienced the night he first arrived in this world.  The chilling sensation of being detached from the reality beneath his feet.

*Grit.*

Seong-ho gritted his teeth and endured the dizzying sensation.

*Gasp, gasp.*

After a few seconds, he finally managed to pull himself out of the daze. He steadied his weakening body, catching his breath.  He stumbled and grabbed onto a table, his hand coming away smeared with sticky, dried blood.  Even so, he straightened himself and started walking.

‘Let’s see if there are any survivors.’

If there was even one, it would be easier to persuade the survivors in the school building.

‘If they understand their situation, there won’t be any need for persuasion.’

But what if they were still clinging to hope, believing this place to be a paradise?  They wouldn’t listen even if he shouted at them to escape all day long.  He wanted to find someone who had survived in this basement, just in case…

‘Am I too late…?’

Unfortunately, all that remained were traces of slaughter. There were no survivors in sight.  But he couldn’t leave empty-handed.  As a second-best option, Seong-ho picked up the head of one of the corpses.  There were plenty of bloodstained sacks lying around, so carrying it wasn’t a problem.  Although he gagged several times while picking up the head, he didn’t stop.

A moment later, Seong-ho picked up one of the camping lanterns illuminating the basement and stood up. But as soon as he took a step out of the basement, he had to stop again.  It was because of the cathedral staff he was leaving behind.

‘I can’t sever the strings, and I can’t take them with me.’

It was impossible for him to carry all of them by himself.  So, leaving them tied up and confined within this building was the best option, both for them and for him.  He knew this logically, but he still couldn’t bring himself to leave.  It was because he had witnessed with his own eyes the horrors they had endured in this place.

“Damn it.”

In the end, Seong-ho put down all the equipment he had gathered.

‘Let’s at least move them to a place without blood.’

Then, when they woke up, they wouldn’t have to see the blood and corpses.  It would also be good if the place was safe for them, even while tied up, just in case.  Seong-ho busily searched the basement for a suitable location.  After a while, he found a small, but suitable storage-like space. He reached out to move the cathedral staff.

However, the crow, which had been stubbornly staying by Jung Han-soo’s side, prevented him.  As soon as Seong-ho tried to touch Jung Han-soo, it flapped its wings threateningly and cawed, as if it was about to peck at his hand.  Seong-ho frowned.

“Sigh… I’m just trying to move them to a safe place.”

The crow, which had initially tilted its head and eyed Seong-ho’s hand suspiciously, finally hopped aside.

“It could be dangerous to leave them here. I’m moving them, so move.”

As he spoke to it as if coaxing a child, it hopped aside.  It didn’t stop there, but took flight. The crow flew across the basement and landed in a corner where the plumbing fixtures were installed. It then looked back at Seong-ho, as if checking if he was watching.

‘What is it trying to do now?’

Seong-ho’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.

*Tap, tap, tap.*

The crow pecked at the floor with its beak.  Having become somewhat accustomed to the crow’s eccentric behavior through several experiences, Seong-ho easily understood what it meant.

‘Is there something there?’

He approached and saw a metal door that lifted upwards. Although it was securely locked, it wasn’t a problem for Seong-ho, who had bolt cutters.  He brought the tools and cut the lock, and the metal door creaked open.  A place shrouded in pitch-black darkness.  Seong-ho brought the lantern and shone it inside.  He saw metal bars.  To get a clearer look, he climbed down a ladder and saw metal bars wrapped tightly with chains.  As he reached out, wondering what it was…

‘Don’t tell me…?’

A memory suddenly flashed through his mind.

—–CROW—–