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“Ugh, mmm…”

When Lee Ha-yeon opened her eyes, she found herself in a cramped space walled in by bricks with no windows.

How many hours had passed? Or was it days? She couldn’t tell. With a hazy mind, Lee Ha-yeon stared blankly at the floor.

-Clank.

As she finally came to her senses and tried to move, the shackles on her limbs clinked. It seemed these weren’t ordinary shackles, seeing as she couldn’t muster any strength.

“You’re awake.”

As she turned to the direction of the voice, she saw the Celestial Lady sitting on a single-person chair in the corner. She was reading a thick hardcover book and smiled as she closed it.

“I just want to confirm, are you still absolutely not thinking of serving me or Dion?”

“…Not at all.”

That was a lie. It wasn’t completely true. The moment she laid eyes on the Celestial Lady, the loyalty that began to flare up deep in her chest and the desire to obey started gnawing at Lee Ha-yeon’s mind.

But she could hold on. Seeing her respond while maintaining her sanity, the Celestial Lady tilted her head in curiosity.

“How peculiar. Usually, those who drink even a fraction of my blood immediately submit. Is your willpower especially strong? Or do you perhaps possess some kind of resistance?”

The part the Celestial Lady pointed out was something Lee Ha-yeon herself was puzzled about. In the past, just drinking a much weaker holy water than the Celestial Lady’s blood had almost induced symptoms of addiction. Yet, for some unknown reason, after drinking the Celestial Lady’s blood, her mind was surprisingly clear.

She didn’t know the reason. But if brainwashing wouldn’t work, that was a good thing. Lee Ha-yeon seized that opportunity to puff herself up.

“…Unfortunately, brainwashing doesn’t work on me.”

“Hmmm, is that so?”

Of course, the Celestial Lady was not the kind of person who would fall for such shallow bravado.

She knew that while Lee Ha-yeon was relatively maintaining her sanity, it was far from a comfortable situation.

“Well, we’ll find out more as we go. Fortunately, my recovery is quite swift, so I can bleed as much as I like. If I fill you up to the point of suffocation, won’t you eventually yield to pleasure?”

“…”

“And for you, it would be better this way. There are various ways to make someone surrender, and pleasure isn’t the only one. The easiest way is through fear and terror. And I’m quite skilled in that method, you know?”

Saying that, the Celestial Lady walked up to Lee Ha-yeon.

Soon, she pulled out a knife from her robe that had previously cut her wrist. Waving the knife playfully in front of her, the Celestial Lady smiled.

“I can turn you into a blind puppet drenched in pleasure or a fool driven mad by pain. Either way, it’s my choice, and you can never escape. Do you understand your situation now?”

With each point of reality the Celestial Lady laid out, a shiver of fear began to creep down Lee Ha-yeon’s back. Watching her expressions shift in real time, the Celestial Lady felt a chilling delight.

“Are you scared? If you want to forget your fear, rely on the gods. If you lean on and submit to those who possess overwhelming power, you can feel utterly at ease without a single thought. Worries, concerns, anxieties, and fears will all disappear.”

“…Like you did?”

“Exactly. That’s how I’ve achieved this stability and happiness. You, too, are the same. Just give up and surrender to me. I will grant you the supreme pleasure of happiness.”

The seductive voice slithered around Lee Ha-yeon, tickling the fear that was blossoming in her heart.

She was scared.

She feared torture and brainwashing. But what truly frightened her was not the process but the result.

The thought of becoming a blind puppet who lost herself like the followers. The fear of forgetting even this dread.

“…”

But Lee Ha-yeon steeled her heart.

She would never submit to her enemy. The executor must neither turn a blind eye to injustice nor succumb to evil.

Although she was just a trainee, she had chosen to walk the path of an executor, and her resolve was firmly in place.

“…Is that so? Do as you wish. I won’t stop you if you choose to go down a thorny path.”

Reading that determination in Lee Ha-yeon’s eyes, the Celestial Lady murmured in disappointment.

“Oh, but let me tell you one thing. After I conquer you, I will also make Kwon Tae-ho mine. Using you as bait.”

At those words, Lee Ha-yeon’s gaze flickered momentarily. If it were just her issue, it might be bearable, but touching her comrade’s safety would understandably shake her.

“…Such shallow tricks won’t work on the Executor.”

But in the next moment, Lee Ha-yeon smiled gently and confidently said.

“Fufu, you’re so certain after just a few days of knowing him?”

“I can tell after just a few days.”

Lee Ha-yeon had come to understand something about Kwon Tae-ho through two incidents.

He was different.

While those who become Executors tend to be exceptional, Kwon Tae-ho was particularly extraordinary. It wasn’t just that he had strong martial power.

When observed closely and having performed missions together, one would naturally feel it.

Kwon Tae-ho was someone who could smash through any adversity head-on.

Seeing Lee Ha-yeon’s face, which had banished fear, the Celestial Lady scoffed.

“…You have quite the faith. Hmmm, I see. Your deity of faith is Kwon Tae-ho, isn’t it? Even in this situation, you firmly believe that he will come to save you?”

-Scrape.

As she asked the question, the Celestial Lady cut her wrist. Sweet blood dripped down her white wrist.

“Then let’s change the object of that faith.”

*

Meanwhile, at that same moment, Kwon Tae-ho’s office.

Kwon Tae-ho, who arrived at work in the morning, was frowning at his smartphone screen.

“Where’s Ha-yeon?”

Although Lee Ha-yeon had been on a sneaking mission into the True Religion lately, she would still come to the office in the morning. But it was now past 10 o’clock, and she was nowhere to be seen.

When Yoo Seol questioned him, Kwon Tae-ho showed her the text displayed on his smartphone.

“She apparently drank a ton at the welcome party for the new knight the day before. She’s resting at the headquarters’ lodging, and her condition seems bad. She’s asking if she can take a day off work.”

“Ha-yeon? That’s unexpected. She seemed like she could drink pretty well when she was with the Executor.”

“Being in a sneaking position, she probably didn’t want to raise suspicions and just drank whatever was handed to her. I told her to rest well and come back tomorrow. It’s not like there’s an urgent matter.”

“Is that so…?”

Yoo Seol murmured, looking unconvinced. When Kwon Tae-ho looked at her, she cautiously spoke up.

“I just feel a little uneasy.”

“Why’s that?”

“It was mentioned that the holy water Ha-yeon brought had a brainwashing effect, right?”

The reason she knew of that effect was that Lee Ha-yeon had tasted the holy water herself. Fortunately, as a returnee, she had some resistance and wasn’t completely brainwashed, but she wouldn’t be entirely free from its influence.

“Yesterday, Ha-yeon called the Celestial Lady ‘Lady.’ I overlooked it at the time, but thinking about it at home made me feel uneasy.”

“Unconsciously being influenced and slowly brainwashed?”

“Yes, so I was planning to give her a heads up once she got to work today…”

At those words, Kwon Tae-ho knitted his brows in thought before immediately calling Lee Ha-yeon.

-Ring ring.

Even after a long while of ringing, there was no sign of her picking up. Seeing Kwon Tae-ho hang up, Yoo Seol anxiously asked.

“Could it be that she got caught by enemies after her true identity was revealed due to brainwashing…?”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions. She might have just slept through it because of the hangover.”

“On the contrary, she might have already been brainwashed and become a loyal follower of the True Religion.”

Kwon Tae-ho voiced an optimistic prediction while Yoo Seol expressed a more pessimistic one. They both understood that the other had a point, but given the nature of the Executor’s office, they naturally leaned towards the worst-case scenario.

“…Well, even if the True Religion found out her identity and captured her, it would only go that far. At least for now, we can be assured she hasn’t been brainwashed or betrayed.”

“Why do you think so?”

“I received the results from the forensic examination I personally commissioned this morning.”

Kwon Tae-ho called Yoo Seol over and showed her the email displayed on his computer screen.

“Although it’s still a preliminary result and we need to conduct a detailed examination, they confirmed there’s nothing unusual about the scientific composition of the holy water itself. It’s mostly just water that’s very weakly diluted with proteins or other components found in the human body. In other words, it’s not a drug that physically acts on the body.”

“That means…?”

“In other words, the effects of the holy water’s pleasure or brainwashing are caused by magic or some other ability. If that’s the case, the insurance I set up will be effective.”

“Insurance?”

“I attached a ‘Will’ spirit to the newcomer.”

The Will spirit is used to evade magic contracts, but in addition, it also serves to share the burdens or negative effects imposed on a target’s mind or soul.

“In short, the Will spirit has a resistance to most mental actions, including brainwashing. Even if they attempt to brainwash the newcomer seriously, it won’t be an easy task for them.”

“Still, isn’t it impossible to completely relax?”

“Exactly. So let’s just keep an eye on the situation for a bit. If I don’t hear from her by this evening, we’ll go directly to the headquarters.”

No matter how hungover she was, she would probably wake up by evening.

With Kwon Tae-ho’s words, Yoo Seol seemed to relax a bit, but still, concerns lingered.

“What’s the justification? Since we still haven’t received the detailed results of the holy water examination, we can’t just conduct an investigation recklessly. If we mess up, we could get entangled in illegal investigations and find it even harder to act.”

“Who said I was going to investigate? I’m allowed to have faith, right?”

Kwon Tae-ho replied nonchalantly, causing Yoo Seol to frown.

“…But they will definitely be on high alert.”

“Good, even better. Observing their reactions will yield some results. And while I’m drawing their attention, you can check inside the headquarters.”

“I’m just an office worker; it feels like you’re taking advantage of me like this.”

“Then are you not going to do it?”

“…What do you expect me to do when no one else is here? Just leave it to me.”

Though she said that, given her concern for Lee Ha-yeon, she would likely do whatever she could if there were something to be done. Kwon Tae-ho understood her feelings very well.

“I hope nothing happens. If I had known it would come to this, I wouldn’t have recklessly sent her on a sneaking mission.”

“But you entrusted her because you believed in her.”

“I still believe. I’m just worried she might get hurt over nothing.”

-Ring ring!

At that moment, Kwon Tae-ho’s phone began to ring. Yoo Seol reflexively asked him.

“Is it Ha-yeon?”

“No, it’s Choi Jin-seo.”

It should be a weekday, so she must be at school right now. Why is she calling me?

Thinking that, Kwon Tae-ho answered the phone.

“This is Executor Kwon Tae-ho.”

Responding briefly to Choi Jin-seo’s words, Kwon Tae-ho soon hung up. When Yoo Seol asked what was the matter, Kwon Tae-ho sighed and said.

“She says she urgently wants to talk about Lee Ha-yeon and wants to meet. Just the two of us.”

“Just the two of you?”

That sounded suspicious. If it were urgent, she could easily talk over the phone, so why specifically meet in person? And just the two of them, why was that?

“What’s the meeting place?”

“She wants to meet at a café in front of the school she attends. Considering she isn’t calling me to some remote church, it doesn’t seem like a trap from the True Religion, does it?”

“We shouldn’t jump to conclusions. If Ha-yeon has been brainwashed, we should also consider the possibility that Jin-seo—”

“We’ll handle that when the time comes. Let’s just meet and see how it goes. However…”

Kwon Tae-ho clenched his fist tightly.

“…I need to be fully prepared.”