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Chapter 26
I whispered softly into Dad’s ear as he was holding me.
“If my steps are heavy, then I just won’t walk!”
Earlier, I had said my steps felt heavy, and he immediately picked me up.
Thanks to that, it was easy to whisper.
“Dad, no matter what you see inside, don’t be surprised…”
Dad’s expression hardened as he looked forward. His face was serious.
“I understand.”
After a pause, he asked,
“Is ‘that’ inside there too?”
‘That’?
‘Why does he talk about the fanatics like they’re cockroaches…’
Well, I guess they’re similar. They’re everywhere, impossible to exterminate, and even come back to life after dying.
“Hmm… You’ll find out once you see.”
“…Okay, I understand.”
I buried my face into Dad’s shoulder, thinking of the fanatic “Connector” I saw last time acting like a cockroach.
‘By the way… he still doesn’t ask.’
Even during my forced break, he hadn’t asked me a single question.
Why I knew about Holy Knights’ supplies, why I asked for them.
Not even, ‘How do you recognize fanatics?’
“You don’t have to say it. Just tell me when you want to.”
He said it like he already understood why it was hard to explain. That made me feel strange.
There was only one reason I couldn’t tell him.
‘Brainwashing.’
Usher—that guy was the problem.
A corrupted Holy Knight was vulnerable to the fanatic’s hidden abilities.
‘At least Dad has a high Patience stat, so he won’t be taken over easily…’
But you never know.
Until Dad’s corruption was completely purified, it was better to share as little information as possible.
With a complicated feeling, I hugged Dad tightly.
“……?”
I could feel his confusion, but he just kept walking into the room.
‘The atmosphere is intense.’
A moment later, I felt many eyes on us inside the room.
Because Dad and I were the last ones to arrive, eighteen pairs of eyes stared at us.
Even after I sat down and stared straight ahead for five minutes, their eyes didn’t leave me.
There were ten Pope Candidates and their guardians.
I was the youngest.
There was at least a ten-year gap between me and the oldest boy.
‘I can’t see anything, I don’t see anything.’
I gripped my clothes tightly with my hands and stubbornly stared at the table.
How much time passed?
“Wow, even your entrance is special treatment now?”
A mocking voice.
I kept my eyes forward, pretending I didn’t hear.
‘Tch… damn it, here we go.’
“Some of us have to suffer through lessons and tough training… while someone else just gets everything for free?”
I had replaced the game’s protagonist, so I couldn’t avoid the “main character laws.”
That golden rule that says you’ll attract hate wherever you go.
“If that baby-smelling kid is getting special treatment, just send her home.”
I finally raised my eyes and saw a big boy.
Freckles, an angry face.
When our eyes met, his eyes gleamed like he had been waiting for this.
Behind him stood a giant knight, huge like a bear.
“Gidme, I agree, but please refrain from using crude words.”
“Yes, Father. Of course.”
[Faction: The Church]
They weren’t fanatics or royal spies.
But to me, they looked like this:
‘Doomed to die.’
Like the first supporting character in a horror movie who yells, “I’m not scared at all!”
The game showed how realistic it was by killing off extras and side characters.
The community forums were full of posts complaining about how hard it was to recruit a side character, only for them to die.
‘And then there are the extras…’
Anyway, the big boy called Gidme stood tall, showing that he was the oldest candidate here.
I blinked my big eyes.
So far, I had been silently clutching my clothes and counting the patterns on the table for this very moment.
This unlucky extra.
“Um, your name is… Sudme?”
“IT’S GIDME!”
Oops. He was so loud he sounded like he was getting married tomorrow with a Sudme (bride and groom).
I tilted my head, pretending I didn’t understand anything.
Gidme Listen was a Pope Candidate who had passed the Jungle of Zone 5 during the test.
Hot and humid air, blazing sunlight filtering through leaves, giant bugs everywhere…
Even now, just thinking about it made him breathless.
He was proud that he was the only survivor out of 100 children.
But when he arrived at the Church, there were 10 other kids just like him.
‘But… I must be the best of them.’
He was wrong.
There were even two kids who were more popular than him. One of them had supposedly cleared the most difficult area and was the youngest.
What made him even angrier was that he hadn’t seen this kid’s face even once through all three classes so far.
The reasons were all valid, but to Gidme, they weren’t.
This was privilege…!
Gidme bit his lip and glared sharply.
“Um, your name is… Sudme?”
“IT’S GIDME!”
The mysterious Labyrinth passer.
The youngest Pope Candidate was even smaller and younger than he expected.
And not only that—she looked incredibly weak.
Even though she hadn’t said much, there were tears in her eyes.
‘How did a kid like that clear the Labyrinth?’
The Jungle he survived had been terribly hard, and they said the Labyrinth was dozens of times more difficult.
Gidme swallowed hard.
‘What kind of special ability does she have…?’
Of course, Gidme himself had a special ability.
Every candidate here had their own divine power that allowed them to reach this point.
‘Damn it, why am I scared? That little kid’s nothing.’
Whatever the case…
‘My ability is the best.’
Gidme convinced himself and suddenly stood up.
He was seated next to me, making it easy to intimidate me.
“Hey, tell me why you’re so late!”
My eyes shook violently. Combined with my soft pink hair, I looked even weaker.
“There must be a reason for all the special treatment you’ve been getting!”
I looked flustered, my eyes wide.
“Um, I…”
“What? Speak properly! Don’t you know how?”
At first, when he picked a fight, Gidme had been afraid, thinking, ‘What if she’s stronger than me?’
‘She’s nothing.’
But seeing me just tremble, the simple-minded Gidme quickly became arrogant.
He enjoyed how Holy Knights, priests, and even Pope Candidates had to obey him.
And now, the most popular candidate was scared of him.
‘I really am the best.’
“Y-you’re shouting, so it’s hard to talk…”
“Huh? So what? Make an excuse.”
“Um…”
Tears filled my eyes. I was about to surrender.
“…Your breath smells.”
“…What?”
I glanced up.
My tearful eyes looked at Gidme again. Still scared, but…
“You’re ugly…”
“…Pfft.”
One kid couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing before quickly covering their mouth.
Gidme’s face turned red.
“What was that?!”
“Gidme, please… stop now.”
It was the moment his guardian, who had quietly watched him, finally stepped in.
BANG!
A wooden stick slammed between us.
The training sword stuck in the stone table, dust rising around it.
“…I blew the smell away.”
Somehow, in the blink of an eye, I was in someone’s arms.
As I looked up, I saw Derrick’s cold, deep eyes.
Gidme froze stiff.
