The air was chilly. In an atmosphere that felt as if frost had settled over it, I quietly read Yoon Seoho’s mood.
It wasn’t that I was particularly terrified.
It was entirely to match Yoon Seoho’s mood.
After all, wasn’t Yoon Seoho the one currently responsible for my food, clothing, and shelter?
Of course, I knew the reason why Yoon Seoho looked so displeased.
Because it was due to something I had brought upon myself in the first place.
‘But that man left a really strange aftertaste.’
I briefly recalled the scene of the service held at the headquarters a few hours ago.
Today’s service was no different from any other day.
It proceeded normally, just as it always did—except for the fact that prospective believers attended the service this time.
Previously, only existing and new believers attended the weekend services, but starting around last week, prospective believers began to attend as well.
The priest explained that it was to give them a chance to look around the atmosphere before officially entering the faith.
It seemed like something that didn’t happen back when Yoon Seoho held the position of Leader.
Anyway, after the service began, I waited in the back hallway of the worship hall and made my appearance halfway through.
Even then, Yoon Seoho was away.
I didn’t know the exact reason, but he had disappeared after mentioning that his useless bloodline had called him over some annoying matter and that he would return midway through the service.
At that time, I thought the number of new believers seemed a bit smaller than usual.
Because new believers were intentionally seated in a spot visible right from the altar, it was easy to tell.
It was right around the time when the priest’s long-winded speech ended and the hour of consecration approached that I spotted ‘a certain someone’ among the numerous believers sitting below the altar.
‘His appearance was strangely blurry. To the point where you wouldn’t notice a person was there unless you focused.’
On the surface, he looked like an ordinary young man in his twenties. However, his presence was far too faint.
To be precise, if you didn’t focus, his presence blurred so much that his form became hard to see.
On top of that, there was one more strange thing.
He looked like an ordinary guy on the outside, but his face was completely expressionless.
There was even a lingering authoritative vibe characteristic of the privileged class.
That made it even harder to take my eyes off him.
I endured the urge to let my attention keep drifting toward the man.
But then…
Just as the consecration was about to begin in earnest, I felt it instinctively.
The fact that a very dense, dark energy was lurking inside the body of the man I was drawn to.
I had noticed the esper in the worst condition among those attending the service.
The moment I felt that, I was seized by a desire to guide him.
And a very powerful one at that.
So, I pushed back the believer who was originally supposed to receive the consecration first and had that man brought before me.
The moment I placed my hand on his forehead and performed guiding, I experienced a certain sense of déjà vu.
Just like when I sensed the dense, massive mass of impurities while guiding Yoon Seoho.
In other words, I realized that the ordinary-looking man was also a high-ranking esper, just like Yoon Seoho.
It was as if one of the four main characters, excluding Yoon Seoho, had disguised himself and sneaked in.
Such suspicions intensified further due to the man’s attitude.
Without exception, the believers who had received guiding from me so far—excluding Yoon Seoho—lost their minds entirely.
Like someone tasting oasis water for the first time after wandering a desert, they eagerly devoured the guiding and begged me for more.
They would crave it like beggars, clinging to the hem of my pants in an unseemly manner, pleading desperately.
Occasionally, there were humans who tried to pounce on me, unable to contain their excitement, but that too was a natural phenomenon.
It was normal for espers to feel stability yet become excited upon receiving guiding.
Yes. Surely, the man should have been like that too.
Yet, instead of clinging to me desperately, he displayed a strong possessiveness just like Yoon Seoho.
A thick desire to possess me somehow practically overflowed from him.
Such a reaction could not possibly come from anyone who wasn’t an S-rank esper like Yoon Seoho.
Then who could it be?
If he was an authoritative type, the candidates narrowed down from three to two.
Kang Taeyeong, an elite government agent, was excluded from this.
Kang Taeyeong was someone who had been exploited by the government for a long time.
They said that after his parents died and he became an orphan at a young age, people from the government took him in and raised him as a secret agent.
Because they routinely committed inhumane acts during that process, Kang Taeyeong’s mental state was not very good.
So now, the only ones left were Gi Junghyuk, a conglomerate heir, and Seok Beomjun, a construction company president.
To be honest, it was ambiguous to pinpoint exactly who it was.
Gi Junghyuk was a formal heir born into a typical elite family, while Seok Beomjun was an illegitimate child born into a large criminal organization family who became the boss after killing his older brother, the original heir.
‘I feel like it might be Gi Junghyuk, though…’
While it was true that both had remarkable family backgrounds by birth, Seok Beomjun had a somewhat peculiar personality.
He had a foul mouth, so to speak.
His manner of speech was considerably vulgar and unrestrained. He wasn’t the type to infiltrate secretly like this either.
But that was the same for Gi Junghyuk.
Why would Gi Junghyuk, the elite among elites, secretly attend a service at ‘Exalted,’ which was rumored to be a cult?
If he came because of the rumors about my guiding, it would make sense, but given Gi Junghyuk’s personality, there was no way he would believe such an absurd rumor.
‘Ah, whatever. Who cares what that guy’s identity is. That’s not what’s important right now.’
I glanced at Yoon Seoho, who was still drinking coffee with a peaceful face without saying a single word.
He appeared gentle on the surface, but his gaze was so fierce it looked ready to kill someone.
Ever since he appeared in the middle of the service, his mood had been twisted, and it remained that way even now.
‘It feels like it’s about to explode soon.’
A strong premonition hit me that before long, I would be subjected to something severe.
Even so, my sense of crisis did not surge.
