The Cult Leader in the Clergy Academy

Chapter 317

An earthquake occurred when they were about to go on their vacation trip. It wasn't a big earthquake. Even near the West Sea, since the earthquake happened far away from land, there weren’t any casualties and there was hardly any damage. Fortunately, since the sea that In-Ah and her friends had planned to go to was the East Sea, there were no changes in the travel schedule.

On the day of the trip, the members gathered at the train station. In-Ah was the first to arrive, followed by Min-Seo. They arrived almost at the same time.

In-Ah knew Min-Seo, and Min-Seo knew In-Ah, but they weren’t particularly close. So even after seeing each other, they didn’t exchange a word.

"What the...? When did you guys get here? You came really fast!" Su-Ryeon said.

The awkward atmosphere only dissipated after Su-Ryeon and Dae-Man arrived. Perhaps they were no longer trying to hide the fact that they were dating as they were always moving around together.

Min-Seo frowned when she saw the two of them and said, "I really don't want to see your faces."

Dae-Man smirked in response and said, "Jealous?"

Min-Seo stared at Dae-Man with a stiff, deadpan expression as if she was utterly dumbfounded. She wanted to slap Dae-Man's jaw right then and there, but she managed to hold herself back. She thought to herself that her self-restraint was quite impressive.

Min-Seo turned her head toward Su-Ryeon standing close to Dae-Man and asked, "Why are you dating such a person? You deserve better, really..."

"Oh come on, it's not that bad!" Su-Ryeon replied nonchalantly.

Honestly, she didn't feel too bad. Hearing that she deserved better actually kind of sounded like a compliment.

Similarly, Dae-Man wasn't particularly bothered either. He wasn't the type to be concerned about such things in the first place.

Min-Seo glared at Dae-Man with displeasure and eyed his body as she said, "What's so great about this lump of muscle with nothing in his head? Isn’t he just inefficiently lugging around a bunch of meaningless fat?”

Unable to stand Min-Seo’s words, Dae-Man frowned and retorted, "It’s not fat. It’s all muscle. It’s not the stuff attached to my body, but your body that is normally referred to as fat.”

“You’re speaking a load of fucking rubbish, aren’t you? Want to duke it out on the beach? It’s nice and spacious so it'll be great to fight there. I’ll make it fair and square too.”

"Sure. It won’t hurt much even if I get hit by a fatso like you.”

"This bastard keeps taking it a step further!”

Dae-Man and Min-Seo started arguing as soon as they met. Su-Ryeon, feeling the scene was all too familiar, sighed deeply and approached In-Ah who was alone.

She scanned In-Ah's outfit and smiled broadly.

"Hey, In-Ah. You look really pretty today, don't you?" she said.

"Really? Um... you’re just saying that, aren’t you?" In-Ah replied.

"No, no. I mean it!"

Su-Ryeon was always excited, but today she seemed even more so. It seemed like it was because they were traveling today.

In-Ah found Su-Ryeon's reaction a bit overwhelming, but she enjoyed hearing that she looked pretty. She had dressed up a bit more than usual because they were going on a trip today.

"Thank you. You're... pretty too. I envy your height..." In-Ah said to Su-Ryeon.

Su-Ryeon was wearing a tight outfit overall, and it seemed to suit her tall and slim figure very well.

"Huh? It doesn’t seem like there is much of a difference between us though?"

"I don't think so..." In-Ah said in a bit of a sad tone, then looked at Dae-Man and Min-Seo who were arguing.

They also seemed to have dressed up a bit more than usual. In-Ah wasn’t sure if Dae-Man was intentionally wearing tight clothes or if it just looked that way because of his large build. Min-Seo dressed in a neutral style that suited her personality well, and In-Ah was dressed in clothes that were mainly bright and stylish.

Everyone expressed their individuality through their style. Sun-Woo had not arrived yet, and In-Ah became curious about how he would be dressed.

At that moment, Su-Ryeon looked elsewhere and said, "Wow, you’re dressed pitch black. Aren’t you hot?"

Sun-Woo was heading toward them from a distance. As Su-Ryeon had mentioned, he was dressed entirely in pitch black. Furthermore, he was sticking to long sleeves despite the hot weather.

In-Ah recalled the scar marks she had accidentally seen on Sun-Woo's wrist last time.

‘He must be wearing long sleeves to cover the scar marks,’ she thought.

Although it looked a bit hot, Sun-Woo's outfit was aesthetically alright. Due to using dark colors overall, it actually suited Sun-Woo well.

As soon as he arrived, he waved his hand toward In-Ah. She had been staring blankly at Sun-Woo, so she was surprised and belatedly waved her hand back.

"Uh, isn't it hot?" Su-Ryeon asked Sun-Woo.

Sun-Woo nodded, and as if he didn’t care, he replied, “It’s still cold.”

***

Everyone, with the exception of Jin-Seo, got on the train. Jin-Seo was actively making her name known while working in the Northern Crusader Order these days, and she urgently had to go there due to the recent earthquake.

She had told Sun-Woo that she would join in the afternoon after finishing her work, and Sun-Woo relayed her message to In-Ah.

Since the cost of the tickets had been received in advance, there were no changes in the budget.

Thanks to Jin-Seo's late arrival, Min-Seo, who was originally supposed to sit with her, ended up sitting alone.

"It's nice because it’s spacious and comfortable," Min-Seo said.

She actually liked it. Su-Ryeon and Dae-Man naturally sat together, and In-Ah ended up sitting with Sun-Woo as well.

Internally, In-Ah thought that it was fortunate that Jin-Seo was late. It was a bit of an awkward and embarrassing thought though.

"How long has it been since we went to the sea?! I'm really excited," Dae-Man said.

"Me too! It's even better that I get to go with Dae-Man," Su-Ryeon said.

"Hey, you can’t say stuff like that loudly outside."

"Why? Why can't we say that?"

"That's because... It feels embarrassing."

Dae-Man and Su-Ryeon chatted happily with each other as soon as they sat down. However, after the train departed and a few minutes passed, Su-Ryeon and Dae-Man became quiet. They had fallen asleep. Min-Seo had already fallen fast asleep by that time as well.

Even when everyone else was asleep, In-Ah was awake. She couldn't sleep even though she wanted to because she was concerned about Sun-Woo, who was sitting next to her.

Sun-Woo was resting his chin on his hand and looking out the window. In-Ah glanced at him discreetly.

There was no sign of excitement in Sun-Woo's face and eyes. He looked as bored and gloomy as always.

"It’ll be lots of fun," In-Ah said to Sun-Woo for no particular reason.

Sun-Woo turned his head away from the window. He looked at In-Ah with the same vacant look he had in his eyes when he was staring out the window and chuckled. He had a natural smile on his face.

"Yeah, it seems like it’ll be a lot of fun," he said.

In-Ah didn't know how to respond, so she chewed on her lips for a while. Then she awkwardly said, "Right!"

And then silence filled the train once again.

However, In-Ah did not feel as uncomfortable as before with the silence. She still did not know what had happened to Sun-Woo, but she could tell that his condition was improving little by little.

Thus, she didn’t feel uncomfortable. The natural smile that Sun-Woo showed just before answering remained deeply in In-Ah's heart.

The train arrived at the destination sooner than expected. The members went to the accommodation, unpacked their belongings, and rested for a while. Sun-Woo had received a message that Jin-Seo was expected to arrive within 30 minutes and he passed it on to In-Ah.

In-Ah didn't like hearing the news through Sun-Woo instead of directly from Jin-Seo. However, it was too trivial of a matter for her to show her displeasure, so she just endured it.

Soon, Jin-Seo arrived at the accommodation. She was wearing the uniform of the Northern Crusader Order, as if she had come straight from work.

Su-Ryeon greeted Jin-Seo first. “Oh, you came really early. What happened?"

"It was nothing special. I had to check a few things related to the earthquake," Jin-Seo replied.

“Check?”

“We had to check because it was an abnormal natural disaster. Some people were wondering whether the Voodoo Cult had caused it... But after checking it out, it turned out not to be a big deal,” she said as she unpacked her belongings.

Su-Ryeon had already lost focus on the conversation. She was captivated by the crusaders' attire that Jin-Seo was wearing. To be more specific, it was the uniform of the Northern Crusader Order.

Su-Ryeon stared blankly at Jin-Seo, let out a small sigh of admiration, and said, "Your attire is really beautiful. Ours is so old-fashioned."

"But it's uncomfortable. It's unnecessarily tight."

Jin-Seo then went into her room to change quickly, before coming back out.

***

They arrived at the beach. In-Ah and Min-Seo were planning to rest a bit more at the accommodation before going out, but Su-Ryeon and Dae-Man didn’t let them do so.

They believed that since they were on a trip, it would be a waste of time to just lounge around, and it would be best to play as much as possible.

"Wow... look at all the people."

There were a lot of people at the beach. Su-Ryeon seemed startled by the crowd, but at the same time, an excited smile appeared on her face.

They each changed into the swimsuits they had brought with them. Dae-Man took off his top and only wore shorts, and then exercised bare-chested on the sandy beach. He did so to increase the clarity of his muscles, even if it was just for a moment.

"Seriously, muscles must possess that guy’s body...” Min-Seo said as she looked at Dae-Man with disgust.

Dae-Man, who was exercising hard, suddenly stood up and scanned Min-Seo up and down. Min-Seo still had not changed into her swimsuit.

"Why aren't you changing?" Dae-Man asked.

"Because I have no intention of going into the sea."

Dae-Man looked at Min-Seo with a somewhat displeased expression. "Hmm... really? Su-Ryeon!"

Su-Ryeon had already changed into a swimsuit and was relaxing in the water.

Dae-Man and Su-Ryeon locked eyes. They didn't say anything to each other, but they seemed to understand each other's thoughts as they exchanged a sinister smile. Then, the two of them swiftly lifted the defenseless Min-Seo into the air.

Min-Seo struggled and said, "Hey! You fu- let me go! Hey, put me down! Seriously, listen to me while I’m saying it nicely!"

She couldn't bring herself to hit Su-Ryeon, so she fiercely slapped Dae-Man on the head. However, Dae-Man didn’t let go of Min-Seo.

"Hahaha! If you come to the sea, you have to enjoy the sea!"

"Hey, wait a second. Seriously, I brought my swimsuit. Let me change my clothes. Bastard, if I go in now, I don't even have spare clothes—!"

"Goodbye—!" Dae-Man shouted and, along with Su-Ryeon, threw Min-Seo into the sea.

Min-Seo was thrown into the sea against her will, and she was completely soaked as she stood up from the water.

She swept her wet hair back roughly and spat on the ground. Then, she glared at Dae-Man threateningly and approached him step by step.

"You're dead, you bastard. Come at me," she said.

"That’s what I was waiting for!" Dae-Man said.

Splash!

Dae-Man willingly jumped into the sea. Su-Ryeon followed behind him. The three of them splashed water at each other, pushed each other into the sea, and had fun.

Dae-Man sometimes managed to push Su-Ryeon and Min-Seo into the water, but usually, Min-Seo ended up in the sea. It was because Su-Ryeon and Dae-Man were jointly targeting Min-Seo.

Jin-Seo hadn't entered the sea yet. She asked Sun-Woo, "Aren't you going in?"

She had already changed her clothes and had applied sunscreen to her exposed skin. However, Sun-Woo did not change his clothes. He just sat on the beach as he stared blankly at the waves rolling in.

"I'll go in later," Sun-Woo said.

He was looking at the point in the horizon where the waves met the sky. The waves were high. People entrusted their bodies to the high waves and screamed. Seagulls and ravens flew high in the sky. The ravens occasionally cried out, but their sounds were buried under the people's joyful screams.