Chapter 10. Order of the Golden Bull (2)
As the believer approached the entrance where they were hiding—
“H-Hello! My name is Yoo Sia.”
Sia stood up and greeted him awkwardly.
“…What brings you here?”
Startled by Sia suddenly appearing, the believer kept his distance and watched her cautiously, even with the wrought-iron gate separating them.
“Um, I… well… Ah! I came here because I wanted to find a new faith.”
“Hmm. I’m sorry, but we aren’t accepting new believers yet. I think it would be better for you to look elsewhere.”
Sia’s flustered behavior only made her look more suspicious, so the believer tried to send her away.
But even after being clearly told to leave, Sia refused to back down.
“I mean… Ah! Someone I know recommended this place to me.”
Even if she was making things up on the spot, Sia somehow managed to come up with another excuse.
Of course, the believer wasn’t going to let it slide so easily.
“A recommendation? Then could you show me your letter of introduction?”
“A-A letter of introduction?”
“You don’t have one?”
Seeing Sia stammer made the believer even more cautious.
“If there’s nothing else to discuss…”
“I-I lost it at home! I’m sorry!”
The ridiculous excuse left the believer speechless.
“You lost it? You expect me to accept that as an excuse?”
“I really was introduced to this place!”
Trying desperately to erase his suspicion, Sia put everything she had into acting innocent, her eyes shining brightly.
Her gaze clearly showed her determination to get inside no matter what.
“Haah… Then could you at least tell me the name of the person who introduced you?”
Apparently, her acting had worked to some extent, as the believer’s guard lowered slightly.
However—
“Who was it again? Um… was it Youngsoo? Jungsoo? I think it was something like that. Hehe.”
Sia gave him an awkward smile and instantly destroyed every bit of trust she had managed to earn.
And the reason Sia was trying this hard to get inside was…
One minute earlier, when the believer had begun approaching the entrance where they were hiding—
“How did you get here?”
“W-Well… there’s a reason.”
Sia stammered, unable to bring herself to admit that she had used a tracking device.
In this day and age, secretly tracking someone could easily get her arrested.
“Hey. I’m giving you an order.”
Mikael, who had been whispering beside the evasive Sia, suddenly mentioned an order.
“What kind of order all of a sudden?”
Mikael pointed toward the approaching believer.
“We’re about to get caught because of you. You caused the problem, so you clean it up.”
Sia, who had also been keeping her voice low, immediately bristled at his words.
But then she remembered that her assigned duty was to assist him and forced herself to calm down.
“I don’t even know what’s happening. How did I cause a problem?”
She had simply followed Mikael here without knowing anything.
Now, all of a sudden, she was being treated like the culprit.
Sia felt completely wronged.
“If you don’t like being blamed, then don’t cause trouble.”
Sia realized there was no point arguing any further and gave in first.
“Haah… Fine. But if you ask me to do something weird…”
“This place is a den of heretics. So go find out some information. Now!”
Mikael cut her off.
Push!
Then, immediately after finishing his sentence, he shoved Sia in the back before she had time to react.
That was how Sia had ended up standing in front of the believer.
“Youngsoo? Jungsoo? You claim someone introduced you, yet you don’t even know their name?”
The believer frowned deeply and demanded an explanation.
“I’m sorry. Next time I see him, I’ll definitely remember it.”
The believer sighed at Sia’s hopeless answer.
“Haah… I’ll go inside and inform them. Please wait here for a moment.”
“Oh! Yes, thank you very much.”
Just as the believer turned around, Sia caught sight of Mikael.
He had already avoided the believer’s gaze and was climbing over the monastery wall.
Watching him, Sia suddenly felt as though she had stepped far outside the boundaries of morality.
“Haah… I must be crazy.”
Before long, Mikael disappeared from view.
Even if what they were doing felt morally questionable, if Mikael had been telling the truth—
If heretics really are involved, then this is worth investigating.
It might even be a chance to finally get rid of the concern that had been weighing on Sia’s heart ever since she became a priest.
Rustle, rustle.
Leaving Sia behind, the priest and demon who had entered the monastery first moved through the bushes to keep themselves hidden.
“Can we really trust her, Mikael? She looks completely clueless. Squeak.”
Valefor had transformed into a rat and was sitting on top of Mikael’s head.
He sounded worried.
“Tsk. The way she acts makes her look just like a bluffer. Hmm. Not bad. Bluffer.”
Watching Sia make up nonsense on the spot reminded Mikael of the many bluffers he had seen in the past.
Apparently pleased with the nickname he had invented, Mikael nodded to himself.
Valefor stared at him with a completely unimpressed expression.
“…I’ve thought this for a long time, but your naming sense is seriously terrible. Squeak.”
“No need to praise me. Anyway, now that we’re inside, I can tell for sure.”
From Mikael’s perspective, the inside and outside of the monastery were completely different worlds.
“It’s not a barrier. Did they install some kind of device in the monastery?”
The moment he crossed the wall and stepped into the courtyard, a sensation he hadn’t been able to feel outside struck him sharply.
“It reeks of cow shit. These really are that bastard’s followers.”
The problem was—
I can’t even tell how many there are. Demons and humans are mixed together too.
Whatever device had been blocking the monastery’s energy from leaking outside was also scrambling the energy within.
Because of that, Mikael couldn’t even determine the number of enemies, much less distinguish the demons from the humans.
If I’m careless, I could mistake a human for a demon and hurt them.
Of course, Mikael was already considering everyone in this place a demon worshiper.
So he also had half a mind to smash all their heads anyway.
As he examined the monastery, one particular presence began irritating his senses.
Even within this distorted space, he could feel it clearly, almost as if whoever possessed that energy was deliberately showing off their power.
Is this a high-ranking demon? No… it feels a little different. What is it?
It felt too human to be a demon.
But at the same time, it was stronger and more disgusting than the aura of a mid-ranking demon.
Mikael frowned at the unfamiliar sensation.
Sniff, sniff.
Valefor sniffed the air with his tiny nose before offering his knowledge.
“This is a modified barrier made by Haagenti. Squeak.”
“A modified barrier?”
“It’s a barrier created by altering an existing one and embedding it into a building. That sly bastard Haagenti usually installs them whenever he wants to hide something important. It creates confusion so no one can identify the location. Squeak.”
The mystery behind the monastery’s strange device was solved.
If there was anything important being hidden in this monastery right now, it had to be the Divine Beast.
“Hmm. Then they may have already begun the ritual using the Divine Beast as a sacrifice. Squeak.”
If Valefor was right and the Divine Beast was already being used in the ritual, they needed to rescue it as soon as possible.
“Is there any way to figure out where it is?”
“I don’t know that much. If I did, I would’ve robbed every one of Haagenti’s warehouses already. Squeak.”
Just as Mikael was about to feel disappointed by the lack of useful information, he sensed something unusual.
Below us? Underground?
He could feel the scattered energies gathering together somewhere that seemed to be beneath the monastery.
The problem was that he couldn’t see any entrance leading underground.
In that case, only one option remained.
“Let’s search around, Valefor.”
“Search? Squeak.”
Mikael pointed toward the long cloister stretching throughout the monastery.
From the outside, the cloister windows, formed beneath arched cross-vaults, had looked like rows of dark holes.
If this place was designed after Le Thoronet Abbey, the layout should be similar too.
It wouldn’t be exactly the same since the original design had clearly been modified.
But if Mikael’s memory was correct, they should be able to move throughout the monastery using the cloister.
“From now on, we need to find the underground area. Keep your eyes open.”
Mikael grabbed Valefor from the top of his head and placed him on his shoulder.
Then, avoiding the believers, he headed toward the cloister.
Not even a trace of light entered through the pitch-black openings.
They looked like the open jaws of some monstrous beast, swallowing the priest and demon whole.
Creeeeak.
The wrought-iron gate at the monastery entrance opened.
“The abbot has granted permission. Sister, welcome to the Monastery of the Golden Bull.”
The believer who had gone to ask for permission now welcomed Sia with a warm smile, completely different from his first impression.
Sia instinctively bowed politely in return.
That actually worked?
Even Sia herself knew that her excuses had been ridiculously forced.
The fact that they were still allowing her inside was both surprising and suspicious.
“Before you enter, could you hand me your mobile phone? Unauthorized electronic devices are not permitted within these sacred grounds.”
“M-My phone?”
“Yes. It is one of the monastery’s rules, so I would appreciate your cooperation.”
Sia felt uneasy, but she approached the believer and handed over her phone.
The believer switched it off and put it into his pocket.
Then, as if he had suddenly remembered something, he spoke again.
“Ah! I looked into the Jungsoo you mentioned earlier. It turns out there is indeed a believer with that name registered in our order. I was even able to contact him.”
Sia’s heart suddenly dropped.
Had the lie she had told despite her guilty conscience finally been exposed?
“He said that whenever anyone was having a difficult time, he often recommended this place to them. When I told him that you didn’t have an invitation, he sounded disappointed and said you should have contacted him beforehand.”
“Ahaha… I’ve been having a difficult time lately, so I ended up coming here without telling him first.”
Sia secretly wiped away her cold sweat as she looked at the believer’s kind expression.
Apparently, heaven had helped her.
By sheer coincidence, there really was someone here with a similar name.
“Then allow me to show you around the monastery. Please follow me.”
Sia followed the believer inside.
The grand sight before her left her speechless.
A pointed clock tower rose high into the air, while the surrounding structures seemed to have been carved from stone and light itself.
Even in Korea, the only famous Romanesque-style structure she knew was the Seoul Anglican Cathedral.
This is supposed to be a monastery belonging to heretics?
Sia was impressed by how sacred the building appeared from the outside.
But once she remembered that this was supposedly a base of heretics, that sacred atmosphere transformed into a heavy sense of pressure.
“First, this is the Fountain of Improvement, one of the greatest prides of the Monastery of the Golden Bull. As for the history of this fountain…”
The believer enthusiastically explained each location one by one.
However, Sia barely heard any of it because she was too busy keeping watch on her surroundings.
“Sister, are you all right?”
“Yes? Ah! The building is so beautiful that I ended up spacing out while looking at it.”
The believer had found Sia’s nervous behavior strange.
But after hearing her compliment, he laughed it off.
“Haha. Everyone says that. Let us continue.”
After passing the Fountain of Improvement, they arrived at the monastery’s main building.
The structure surrounded the courtyard in a broad U-shape.
On either side of the enormous entrance stood golden statues of winged bulls, gleaming strangely beneath the light.
“Please wait for a moment while I pray.”
The believer knelt before one of the statues and began praying.
Sia took a step back and carefully examined it.
That’s seriously creepy.
That was Sia’s first impression of the bull statue.
It was impossible to tell whether the wings on its back belonged to an angel or a demon.
Its two horns stretched unnaturally long, to the point that she could easily believe it if someone told her the statue depicted a transformed demon.
The fact that they were praying to something like this was already enough proof that they were heretics.
“Shall we head to the chapel now?”
Following the believer’s guidance, Sia entered the cloister.
Contrary to her expectations, the interior looked perfectly ordinary.
Aside from the light entering through the windows, there were barely any decorations.
Every corridor connected to the cloister felt quiet and solemn.
Step. Step.
Their footsteps echoed as though they were walking through a cave.
The cloister seemed connected to every room in the monastery, judging from how often the corridors turned and branched.
—“Even today, we must live improved lives through the grace of our Father.”
As Sia followed behind the believer, she heard someone preaching from somewhere nearby.
The deeper they walked through the cloister, the louder the voice became.
“Is that voice coming from the chapel?”
“Oh, exactly right. It is something you should hear as well, Sister.”
After saying that, the believer stopped in front of the room where the preaching originated.
He carefully opened the door without making even the slightest sound.
“We must change!”
“I am not saying that you need some completely new revelation. Start with the small things. Change one thing at a time from the person you are right now!”
At the main altar stood a wrinkled man passionately preaching toward the congregation.
Unlike the other believers, he wore a pure white suit decorated with deep gold, giving him an imposing presence.
A large bull-skull emblem was embroidered across his chest, making his position clear.
He was the abbot of this monastery.
“Today, a new change has come to us.”
“Someone has personally traveled all the way here in order to learn our faith!”
The abbot extended one hand toward the believer and Sia, who had just entered.
Every believer sitting in the congregation turned toward her at once.
“Let us welcome her with all our hearts.”
The abbot spread his arms.
“Sister Yoo Sia!”
