The Life of a Wise Cult Leader - Chapter 128

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 128

 

The flesh melts and the mind becomes one, knowing all things, the great God of darkness! Cast yourself into the curse of oblivion!-

 

You need to come to your senses.

 

A voice similar to mine but slightly softer and gentler echoed in my head.

 

“Huff.”

 

Sernuan?

 

I thought you had mixed with the system, lost your ego, and just became the system itself!

 

When I opened my eyes in confusion, a vast and beautiful universe spread out before me.

 

“Ah…”

 

I was now inside a massive consciousness system. The massive consciousness system that the God of darkness possessed…

 

The countless stars embroidered in that universe are memories that people have forgotten or memories that God has erased out of necessity.

 

Or they bury faith or secrets of the world deep within the God of darkness.

 

The vast universe will embrace all of that, freeze it cold, and return it as fragments of darkness.

 

Unlike the moment of ant-like powerlessness from just before, this space was now friendly to me.

 

Just moments ago, I felt like my mind would collapse from the intimidating presence, unknown fear, and vastness.

 

Because I was this space and the space was me, while simultaneously being part of the God of darkness… It might be good to become part of him like this and help the great God of darkness!

 

“Gasp.”

 

‘I really need to come to my senses. If I get devoured by this ego like this, I won’t be able to get out.’

 

Having experienced nearly being controlled and devoured by the system before, being able to hold onto my sanity was perhaps fortunate.

 

Then, someone appeared behind me.

 

I quickly turned my head. There was someone identical to me, no. The original owner of this body…

 

“Hello.”

 

Sernuan Lumiere was there.

 

“How…”

 

His impression was distinctly different from mine.

 

If I had a sharp, cunning face like a serpent, Sernuan Lumiere had gentle sheep-like eyes and wore a warm smile.

 

His attire was also the complete opposite. While I wore flowing, splendid clothes, he with both arms intact wore clothing so simple it looked almost shabby.

 

In the pitch-black universe, within that sparkling abyss, only two people stood.

 

“This is a strange space where fragments of consciousness gather and scatter. I came out representing the Forgotten Gods and the system, borrowing this space.”

 

In complete zero gravity with nowhere to step and nothing to grab, Sernuan swam through the air as if accustomed to it and stood before me to greet me.

 

“Let me formally introduce myself, Player. My name is Sernuan Lumiere.”

 

It was a gentle and kind voice. A warm voice that seemed like it had never experienced any of the world’s hardships. Anyone standing before him would probably want to confess their flaws and feel at ease.

 

How could that be possible? To live such a painful life and yet… similar to mine…

 

The moment I harbored that question, as if responding to my thoughts, stars swirled in the pitch-black universe surrounding us. The universe rippled like a giant beam projector screen.

 

The God of darkness projected the past through his ‘eyes.’

 

*

 

“Hanbyeol.”

 

Park Hanbyeol. That’s my name.

 

Sernuan spoke to me in my head.

 

-It’s a pretty name.

 

I lightly brushed off Sernuan’s compliment. It was just a Korean name given with the director’s surname ‘Park’ anyway.

 

[Hanbit Orphanage]

 

“Congratulations on graduating.”

 

What was there to congratulate when I had no idea what to do after graduation or how to live my life?

 

I had to find work before the support funds ran out. I was relieved that university tuition could be covered by national scholarships, but I still needed to earn living expenses. The rent near the university was too expensive, and there were so many things to consider… communication bills, textbook costs…

 

Desperately hanging on was my life. Why did I have to struggle so hard to live? Why did it feel like only I was living such a difficult life? There wasn’t a single corner where I could think positively.

 

Time passed like that.

 

“Want to check out our club?”

 

A classmate from my major said that. I always ate alone and huddled in the corner of lecture halls just listening to classes, but we somehow became close through a group project for our major.

 

I had made a ‘friend.’

 

For me, who had experienced bullying throughout my school years, this was truly a miraculous thing. The severe bullying had made me wary and push people away, but at the same time, it made me crave human connection.

 

Kim Minseok accepted my terrible personality and poor conversational skills without any problem. The walk home to the bus stop after lectures, chatting about how the exam went after tests ended, eating at the cafeteria together, going to cafes together, exchanging crude and silly jokes – ordinary youth…

 

How easily I had opened my heart.

 

“It’ll be fun! There are friendly seniors and past exam papers…”

 

Even without hearing the rest, if Kim Minseok had asked me to go, I would have gladly gone. I didn’t need past exam papers or connections with seniors.

 

The ‘club’ Kim Minseok introduced was supposedly a place to explore meditation and the potential within one’s inner self while building friendships.

 

Looking back now, it was a typical cult den, but such things didn’t matter to me at the time. Kim Minseok was another pillar of support for me.

 

And… that club praised me for having special and extraordinary energy, and they really cared for each other, so it was much better than the orphanage where I felt no attachment or affection.

 

“Let’s go to the club retreat!”

 

They even didn’t charge me any club fees for being penniless, and paid for my retreat costs too.

 

Our friendship was tight-knit. Looking back now, it was the typical closeness of a fanatic group, but back then I was just a pure young person who knew nothing, so I thought ‘Wow, youth really is great!’

 

Since I worked early morning part-time jobs, I was tired and fell asleep in the retreat car, and where his car arrived was some remote countryside.

 

“…Minseok, is this really the retreat location? There isn’t even a convenience store.”

 

Unusually, Minseok was quiet. Even though he was always someone who liked to talk.

 

Minseok led me to a container. The club members were supposed to have a meat party here. I didn’t want to sleep in a container like this.

 

“Hanbyeol.”

 

“…?”

 

The container door closed from the outside. The eye-stinging fluorescent light and the flying insects gathered beneath it. For a moment I wondered ‘Is this one of those popular prank cameras?’

 

Minseok asked me with serious eyes.

 

“Will you become our Cult Leader?”

 

“…What are you talking about?”

 

“I saw your true self in my meditation. The image of overcoming any hardship! You’re definitely a special being, you’ll become the Cult Leader who will guide us!”

 

I had no idea where he saw such specialness in me. Overcoming hardship? I wasn’t overcoming it, I just endured because I didn’t want to die. The typical eloquence and sophistry of cult leaders wasn’t my specialty, and I had nothing outstanding…

 

Sernuan asked.

 

-Do you really think so, Hanbyeol?

 

I ignored those words once again.

 

When will this damn life theater end? What is the God of Darkness thinking, exposing my entire life like this? Did the God of Darkness do something? What would they even do knowing all this?

 

-Perhaps the God of Darkness wanted to know about us? Like white blood cells dispatched to eliminate a virus that suddenly invaded.

 

How does a fantasy medieval person know about viruses and white blood cells?

 

-This is a space where my consciousness and Hanbyeol-nim’s are mixed. Just as Hanbyeol-nim can use our language without studying, I can also possess ‘modern’ knowledge in this place.

 

Did you see all of this while being a system too?

 

-Yes, but I couldn’t know in such detail before. It’s nice to have this time to learn about Player-nim’s life.

 

That sounds like something you’d say while giving 5 stars on a delivery app. Anyway, I’m glad you found it good. Now it’ll be a life that no one but you knows about.

 

My life theater continued to unfold before my eyes.

 

Being kidnapped and confined in that remote countryside, set up as the figurehead for the new religion those bastards would create…

 

Somehow escaping from the cult and undergoing police investigation, I barely managed to graduate from university. When I got a job anywhere, it turned out to be a black company…

 

I lived pessimistically with chronic distrust of humans, but I still tried to live.

 

However, the second company I worked for also went bankrupt, and when I tried to do something, tried to live by doing manual labor, I just ended up crippling my legs. After that, did I just play games a bit more earnestly as a shut-in?

 

That was all there was to my pathetic life.

 

‘Thinking about it again, it really fucking sucks.’

 

-It must have been really hard for you.

 

“You said it was good earlier.”

 

-I thought your life was similar to Hanbyeol-nim’s, so I felt some kind of inner intimacy.

 

Just as I was about to say something, the space rippled again. In a one-room house covered with trash, a computer screen hummed brightly.

 

The smell of blood came from somewhere.

 

When I opened my eyes, I was embracing someone’s corpse. No, that was Gent. Gent of Barwhelem was my loyal… wait, my consciousness is too mixed up…

 

“Cel.”

 

This isn’t my memory, but Sernuan’s memory.

 

“Teacher…”

 

It’s Teacher, looking slightly younger than now.

 

“Were you trying to skip class because of playing around?”

 

“No.”

 

“It seemed like you made a friend.”

 

I don’t want to see this.

 

This was a part that Teacher didn’t properly address and skipped over when she gave me a ‘review’ last time. I didn’t want to see it that much, didn’t want to recall it again. Sernuan had also skipped this part during the ‘review’.

 

Sernuan’s face, not much different from now, was eerily expressionless. Despite holding a corpse.

 

“Not a friend.”

 

“Really? Then that’s fortunate.”

 

If anything, they were family, not friends.

 

I dropped the corpse I was holding to the floor. It’s all meaningless. It was futile. I had failed again after all.

 

“You’ll have to leave soon anyway. Let’s give up on making friends.”

 

“…Yes.”

 

Teacher personally destroyed the religious order that Sernuan Lumiere had created for playing family. Sernuan’s mental state was also destroyed.

 

The space where we had just been sharing warmth, calling each other family, was now covered in blood and entrails.

 

The orphanage was like this too. Monsters invaded and snatched everyone up, crunching them with their teeth. The older brothers and sisters who were relatively older tried to protect us younger ones as much as possible, but in the end they were just children too…

 

Now I’m no longer young, so why did I lose my family again… Was wanting to have a family such a great greed?

 

That was the end of his contemplation. Sernuan’s mental state had been ground to dust.

 

“Are you angry that Teacher did this?”

 

Blood from those who had been family just moments ago soaked between the toes of those pure white feet.

 

“…”

 

The expression of the one collapsed on the floor was horribly contorted as if in agony. It was because Teacher had killed them by breaking their limbs. Everyone he had considered family was crawling on the floor, twisted in such grotesque ways.

 

-…I knew roughly what had happened, but I didn’t realize it would be this horrific.

 

There was bound to be a difference between quickly skimming through exam summary notes and watching the actual lecture video.

 

‘I’ witnessed the shocking scene from Sernuan’s perspective.

 

Teacher casually wiped the blood from her cheek with her black-gloved hand. It was a gesture like simply wiping moisture off an object.

 

Teacher’s pale green eyes and blood-red hair flickered in the light of the lit candle.

 

“Come, Cel. It’s time to sleep.”

 

The place where Teacher led Sernuan by the hand was…

 

The very altar where I had first opened my eyes.

 

“Sleep well.”

 

Sernuan had neither the thought nor the will to resist.

 

And so Sernuan Lumiere willingly became a sacrifice.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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