“…What?”
“I wanted to obtain or make uniforms separately, but it seemed too difficult to do that. So for now, I decided to make and distribute as many cloaks as possible.”
There were too many points to address, so my head wasn’t working well instead. As I carefully retraced Lee Gojun’s words, I first brought out the question I heard earliest.
“How did you make the cloaks? They look too high quality for being cut and sewn by hand one by one.”
“Ah, there was a survivor at Hanul High who awakened an ability related to that.”
My eyes became even more displeased.
“…That person called a survivor is cooperating of their own will?”
“Of course. This is all for you, Hayoung, and for our Church of Hayoung.”
“No, I mean….”
I tried to continue speaking but felt an inexplicable sense of crisis and closed my mouth. If I dug into that part any more, it seemed like I would face truths I didn’t particularly want to see.
The next question I had been thinking of—’Are there enough Church of Hayoung believers to need many uniforms or cloaks?’—was also naturally pushed down inside my throat. If I carelessly brought it up, the future of having to embrace everything I had no intention of handling was clear.
I opened my mouth to find a completely different topic.
“Where did you leave your younger brother to come here alone?”
“Geonwoo is in the auditorium. In the auditorium with the other survivors….”
“I see. Got it.”
I cut off Lee Gojun’s words at once. This seemed to be a wrongly chosen question too.
“Anyway, Hayoung, I’m so relieved you’re safe! Every time an incident happens, your body isn’t intact every single day so even my heart can’t withstand it… but if you’ve opened your eyes and woken up again, that’s sufficient fortune and blessing.”
Whether he knew what was inside me or not, Lee Gojun babbled while spouting carefree words. That smile that had seemed purely innocent and good before seemed to harbor a changed atmosphere these days. It still sparkled the same, but it resembled a madness that couldn’t be called ‘absolute good.’
Lee Gojun, who took another step closer to me, knelt without hesitation. As if his knee that bumped the floor with a thud didn’t even hurt, he wore a clear smile with an utterly still face.
“How’s the area that was wounded? Even if it stings or aches slightly, don’t hide it and tell me.”
“…I’m really fine. Perfectly fine.”
“That’s a relief, really.”
While Lee Gojun let out a sigh of relief, I swept over his figure lowering his body toward me. Even though it was just the upper and lower school uniform, with him dressed in clothes selected to be intact, and the long cloak spread behind his back draped on the floor, he looked quite like a formally dressed apostle. That didn’t mean the distinctive shamelessness of a pseudo-cult disappeared, but at least compared to before, it was much better.
“That cloak suits you well.”
At the unexpected compliment, Lee Gojun’s eyes widened greatly. Not stopping there, his pupils fully reflecting me began to shake roughly.
I awkwardly met that gaze, then slowly continued speaking, unable to bear the silence.
“So… from now on, dress like that when you go around. It seems to give off less of a pseudo-cult feeling.”
“…Are you acknowledging it?”
Once again, an absurd question popping out from between Lee Gojun’s lips poured cold water on this situation.
‘I don’t think I even brought up the letter “a” of acknowledgment.’
However, Lee Gojun’s thoughts had already spun tightly in the direction he wanted and arbitrarily confirmed his own conclusion. His loosely relaxed face was filled with emotion, and his shaking eyes were dyed with vitality and shone.
Lee Gojun crawled on his knees as if to approach me even closer. Then, when Cha Jeoh, who had been keenly watching us, quickly grabbed his scruff, he gave up easily and instead clasped both hands together.
“Thank you, Hayoung. I’ll really work hard.”
“…On what.”
“I’ll spread our Church of Hayoung widely. Even if I can’t say the absurd words that we’ll become the best of this era, I’ll try my best so that as many people as possible know your status.”
“So why.”
“Don’t feel too burdened either, Hayoung. Before being the Messiah of the Church of Hayoung, you’re my precious friend and benefactor….”
I had never felt burdened, and I had never accepted being the Church of Hayoung’s Messiah. When I held my naturally throbbing head, Lee Gojun forgot he was being held by Cha Jeoh and jumped up abruptly.
“Hayoung, does your head hurt? Let me take a look!”
“It’s because of you, this guy, Lee Gojun-ah. It’s because of you.”
Cha Jeoh, who muttered fiercely, no longer hesitated and pulled Lee Gojun away with a swoop. Lee Gojun flailed his arms and kicked his legs, pitifully making all sorts of efforts, but it was insufficient to overcome Cha Jeoh’s strength.
“Hayoung! If you’re in pain, call me! Don’t endure it and be sure to call!”
I squeezed my eyes shut, pretending not to hear Lee Gojun’s increasingly crazed shouting. Matching that timing, Cha Jeoh threw open the door, threw Lee Gojun outside the art room, and roughly closed the door again.
After one round of commotion swept through, I was completely drained. Feeling a presence approaching me, I slowly raised my eyelids, and Cha Jeoh, who had already approached, was bending his knees and looking up at me.
“Does your head hurt a lot?”
I withdrew the hand that had been holding my forehead and shook my head.
“I wasn’t holding it because it really hurt. I just did it because I was a bit flustered.”
“…But Hayoung-ah, I secretly think you bear great responsibility for Lee Gojun becoming like that.”
When I rolled my gaze sharply to face Cha Jeoh, he subtly averted his eyes. It was when I was staring at him with a persistent gaze without saying anything.
Cha Jeoh suddenly turned his head toward the door.
“Cha Woodan’s here.”
Soon Cha Jeoh’s warm palm skillfully covered my eyes. Since my eyes were already covered, meaningless knocks followed two or three times, and the soft noise of the art room door opening and closing rang out.
“Hayoung-ah.”
I faced Cha Woodan through the gap where Cha Jeoh’s hand left me.
“I have something to talk about.”
Cha Woodan smiled brightly. I didn’t know where he’d been, but for some reason, at his expression that seemed filled with considerable satisfaction, I nodded for now.
***
After survivors from other forces chased after Hanul High survivors and invaded, there were countless changes within Hanul High.
First, the most noticeable was the change in the number of survivors. All the sports club survivors, who had clung to the other forces’ survivors and therefore had no choice but to face them up close before anyone else as they began their attack, died. If that had been all, the number of casualties wouldn’t have been that many, but the problem was that afterward, a considerable number of those who went out to the field to oppose them also died or were injured.
Therefore, most of those who survived within Hanul High now were only combat-type ability users who had remained on campus unable to engage in battle due to the incident in the auditorium last time, or non-combat ability users like those who had awakened healing abilities. It was the worst situation in many ways.
But there was a more important problem separate from that. It was the absence of the high-ranking power holders who had controlled and ruled Hanul High dictatorially.
All the sports club survivors had died, and the auditorium faction where the healing ability users were gathered was also unable to maintain their sanity due to unforeseen reasons. In the midst of that, the student council faction, which hadn’t even shown their noses during the battle on the field, had already left Hanul High and disappeared long ago.
Of the four forces that had led Hanul High, three had collapsed or lost their function. The last remaining force was a collection of students from various clubs, but because they had a strong conservative image of being tightly bonded among themselves, it wasn’t easy to gain the trust of other survivors.
In fact, the ponytail girl, the leader of the club faction, had until now particularly strongly displayed the belief that ‘as long as my people are safe, that’s enough.’ So there was no way it would be easy to overturn an image once set in stone. Also, since the club faction had essentially been under the student council faction, which alone had high authority among the four forces, there was no way they could skillfully reign in a situation like this.
So something new was needed. An existence that could be trusted because they had shown through actions many times instead of relying on human emotions. An existence that survivors couldn’t recklessly rebel against because they possessed outstanding power, and instead harbored awe and fantasy. An existence that was cold-blooded but not completely devoid of compassion, and who hadn’t belonged to any faction from before, making them suitable to rise as the center of a new force.
“That’s you. Kim Hayoung.”
I furrowed my brow slightly.
“What do you mean….”
“There’s no one but you. Really, only you, Hayoung-ah.”
The ponytail girl’s face was serious without a trace of playfulness. Neither the smile around her lips that had seemed cheerful nor the desperation when she earnestly begged was contained. She was just waiting for me, emptying everything of herself as if to absorb all the emotions and fragments I poured out.
I tapped the desk with my finger out of habit. Then I asked slowly.
“Why does it conclude that I’m the only suitable person?”
“Just as I said, because there’s no one but you.”
I glanced away and looked up at Cha Woodan standing on my right. When our eyes met, he calmly curled up the corners of his lips.
This time when I shifted my gaze to the left, my eyes met Cha Jeoh’s. I had heard whispering sounds from behind me earlier, and as if he had already heard something from Cha Woodan, he kept his mouth firmly shut with a face that wasn’t entirely dissatisfied. He didn’t seem to have any intention of refuting the ponytail girl’s proposal.
Turning my head straight again, I swallowed a sigh soundlessly.
