Content Warning: Mentions of kidnapping/trafficking.
It was completely absurd for an S-rank corporate operative to mingle with a group of desperate civilians trying to enter an extremist cult.
A voice in the back of his mind kept warning him to abandon the mission and return to his corporate empire before his reputation was ruined.
“We deeply apologize for keeping you waiting. Are you feeling tired?”
Before Gi Junghyuk could sort out his thoughts, two high-ranking members of the organization appeared out of nowhere without making a sound.
They were a middle-aged man and woman who looked entirely ordinary—no different from any regular person walking down the street.
The middle-aged woman scanned the candidates gathered in the alley, her lips instantly curving into a soft, well-rehearsed smile.
“Please follow us. We will head straight to the vehicle.”
Gi Junghyuk forced himself to move, blending in with the other candidates as they followed the pair out of the alley. His main goal was to stay hidden. Given his high status in both business and politics, being spotted inside a cult temple would lead to disastrous consequences.
Stepping out of the alley, the representatives led the group straight to a black van with heavily tinted windows.
As soon as the last candidate climbed inside and took a seat, the middle-aged man got behind the wheel, started the engine, and sped onto the main road.
The van drove fast for a long time.
After driving for about forty minutes through the outer edge of the city, the van slowed down and entered a run-down industrial slum.
The area was filled with crumbling concrete buildings and unstable shacks—a dangerous zone far out of reach of the police.
The van stopped in front of a ruined, abandoned building.
The outside looked so filthy and worn down that it was impossible to imagine it as a sacred religious temple. The entire place felt cold, eerie, and dangerous.
“Oh, fuck. We’re dead. This is a trap, isn’t it? They’re going to harvest our organs!”
“Shut up! You’re echoing off the walls—they can hear every word you say.”
Gi Junghyuk listened to the frantic, terrified whispers of the two men.
Unlike the panicked civilians around him, his expression remained completely calm and unreadable. His cold eyes quietly assessed the decaying building. None of this surprised him; Secretary Oh’s intelligence report had already detailed every part of this plan.
According to the cult’s standard routine, once candidates passed the initial meeting, local members would arrive to pick them up.
From there, the guides would drive the new recruits through a complex route to hide the true location of their main temple.
Of course, the organization didn’t use this long, indirect route for everyday travel.
This strict screening process was a mandatory ritual created specifically for new converts and unverified followers.
Everyone who wanted to join the Exalted Church had to follow an ironclad rule: they had to meet the supreme Cult Leader face-to-face before becoming official members.
Once that meeting took place, members no longer had to travel to the central temple. They were free to attend services and perform rituals at any local branch near their home.
Compared to other strict extremist groups, the Exalted Church gave its members a strange, almost suspicious amount of personal freedom.
It was an unusually odd detail.
“Step inside, brothers and sisters.”
The two representatives positioned themselves at the front and back of the group, leading them down the hallway with calm, gentle smiles that left no room for argument.
The two panicked men stumbled blindly across the doorway, completely terrified.
Walking over the rotting floorboards of the ground floor, the guides stopped at the far wall and knocked twice on a heavy iron door.
At the same time, the woman spoke a ritualistic password into the intercom:
“At the edge of the infernal abyss, the pure glory of salvation awaits.”
SKRRRRRKT.
The moment the words left her mouth, the heavy iron door unlocked with a loud click and swung open, revealing a dark concrete staircase leading deep underground.
Stepping to the side of the doorway, the middle-aged woman gestured ahead.
“You may head down to the lower level now.”
The candidates, who had kept moving until now, froze in place, nervously looking at one another to see who would go first.
Not a single civilian had the courage to step into the darkness.
Seeing them hesitate, Gi Junghyuk stepped out from the group, passed the guides, and began walking down the stairs without a second thought.
Seeing him move ahead, the rest of the candidates hurried after him, their footsteps echoing loudly against the concrete.
The underground staircase went down surprisingly far into the earth.
Small LED strip lights turned on as they walked, but the lighting was dim—just enough to see the vague shadows of the people around them.
After a long walk down, they finally reached a large stone landing.
“Congratulations, brothers and sisters, on completing the journey. Once you pass through these doors, you will enter the main sanctuary.”
The middle-aged man pressed a hidden button in the wall next to a set of massive, ancient double doors.
With a loud, rumbling sound that shook the ground under their feet, the huge doors parted and swung open.
The main sanctuary of the Exalted Church opened up into a breathtakingly huge hall that seemed almost impossibly vast.
The cavernous space was several times larger than a massive city cathedral, its sheer scale instantly overwhelming anyone who stepped inside.
It felt like an impossible sight.
