The cult's influence had greatly shrunk since the police stirred things up last time. No matter how powerful they were, they were ultimately nothing more than a pseudo-religious group under the public authority.

  Nevertheless, their officially known headquarters was still imposing. They believed their faith was not wrong.

  The confusion from when the Leader died was gone. No traces of that time could be found now. The diligent devotees had long since restored everything that was broken amidst their immense anger.

  But such diligence was akin to an obsession with something.

  Perhaps they wanted to prove that everything they had done so far was not in vain. If they abandoned everything to be here, and now it was all for naught, anyone would want to deny it.

  Beneath their smiling faces, feigning benevolence, was a desperate desire—no, an obsession beyond that—to prove that their faith was the truth, even while silently shedding tears of blood.

  However, their eyes, empty of everything except for madness, were chilling just to look at.

  People who were not cult members, those around the headquarters, were all ignoring the place as if it didn't exist. As if it were a cursed object that brought misfortune just by looking at it.

  Jihyeon, who went near the headquarters after his class, sighed as he looked at the cult members' faces.

  He had only come to gauge the atmosphere this time, but the atmosphere here was much heavier than he expected, with a sharp tension embedded everywhere.

  The cult members were doing their best to feign a normal daily life. But it was like a bomb that could explode at any moment.

  They were people who had decided to defend their faith instead of letting it crumble.

  Those who firmly resolved not to forgive anything that displeased them would feel the strangeness even without talking.

  Perhaps they thought of themselves as the guardians and seekers of a great truth, along with the delusion that all their actions were based on their own will.

  But to Jihyeon, they were like listless puppets. What could he expect from people dancing an unpleasant dance, believing another's will to be their own?

  Until they enlightened themselves, they would not be able to crawl out of the bottom of the abyss.

  They were filled only with empty madness, and they merely believed that only within it could they feel happiness.

  Jihyeon had to suppress his nausea while looking at them.

  Their inner selves were like empty cans filled with gloom. They were struggling somehow inside, but in reality, anxiety clung to them like sticky glue.

  Perhaps the executives knew a little about how things were going, but those outside were just ordinary devotees, far removed from the executives.

  Jihyeon contemplated what he should do amidst the profound unpleasantness. If he truly wanted deep information, going inside was possible.

  But he didn't want to do that. The air here was filled with an atmosphere that felt like his insides would rot just from breathing it.

  He even felt it would be much better to connect his will to the nearby power lines to scout the interior. Jihyeon thought, Let's just head back for today, and turned his head.

  "Huh?"

  An utterly unexpected event was unfolding before Jihyeon's eyes, as he tried not to be consumed by the gloom himself.

  Desperation.

  And people holding onto courage that refused to give up, even in the midst of despair, were standing before Jihyeon.

  They were people whose families had been taken by the cult. They gathered in a crowd and shouted in front of the cult's headquarters.

  "Give us back our families! How long will you keep this up!"

  They shouted loudly. Their voices were close to screams. Although they had suffered numerous wounds, the desperation felt from their appearance, as they searched for their precious families, was so fervent it made the cult members' gloom seem negligible.

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  However, the cult members thoroughly ignored their words. As if cold indifference was the only answer, they tried to disregard all possibility of conflict.

  They must have been wary of the police arriving. They wouldn't admit it, but somewhere in their hearts, they might have known they were committing a crime.

  But the cold indifference only fueled the anger of the victims' families. The people who had sometimes threatened them with violence and other times with intimidation were now ignoring them, which was something they absolutely would not tolerate.

  "How long, how long will you ignore us? Your Leader is dead, isn't he? Struck down by heavenly punishment!"

  Someone shouted. And the devotees reacted.

  No matter how much they tried to ignore it, the Leader's death was like a dragon's scale to them. The last remaining pride that must never be touched.

  The cult members were enraged by the fact that it had been touched. The Leader had always been the center of their faith.

  Insult and denial would be something they absolutely could not tolerate. Mean-looking men came running towards the scene one by one.

  They were the Leader's bodyguards. They were sinners for failing to protect him, and now they were entities ready to unleash their directionless rage.

  "How dare you be blasphemous!"

  Among them, the most vicious-looking one shouted at the families who had lost their loved ones. He was even showing a killing intent, as if he would murder them on the spot if they provoked them just a little more.

  Was that the end of fanaticism? Jihyeon sighed. If things continued like this, a bloodbath might occur.

  The incredibly shallow faith and the pride to protect it had, at some point, created a mind that was both the hardest yet the most vulnerable and sensitive.

  They would probably show the contradiction of proclaiming an iron-hard faith while reacting to the slightest word. Their aggression was like that of a fighting dog, but they alone didn't realize that it was a meaningless and hollow thing.

  But Jihyeon did not intervene.

  If he set his mind to it, he could easily intervene, deal with all of them, and shake up the situation.

  But now was not the time.

  What Jihyeon needed was information that could not be found through the internet. For that, he had no choice but to watch a slight conflict unfold.

  If at least an executive came out, the situation would change. Thus, Jihyeon hid himself and watched the developments.

  The voices grew louder and louder.

  The devotees became more violent, but the families also had nothing left to lose. For those whose homes had already collapsed, all that remained was pure rage.

  "Are you even human? We just came to find our families! At the very least, you should tell us if the people you dragged away are alive!"

  The person leading the victim families shouted without any fear. He boldly told the cult member in front of him what they wanted.

  But his rightful voice did not reach them. The madness of fanaticism had already made rational judgment impossible.

  The vulnerable mind easily grew angry, and that anger immediately led to violence. The man who stepped forward to represent the devotees was no exception.

  "This bastard!"

  Unable to restrain himself, he finally raised his fist with a curse. But the voice of deterrence was enough to stop his rage.

  "What are you doing?"

  An elderly man who appeared to be an executive stopped their devotee from using violence. At first glance, it looked like he was preventing the situation from escalating into a bigger conflict.

  But the moment Jihyeon saw him, he sighed.

  That man possessed a tool from the other world. Jihyeon knew this from the fact that he couldn't see the man's information.

  He likely possessed the same kind of power as himself. It was different from merely having a tool that nullified CCTVs.

  Jihyeon cautiously used all his available power to try and secure information on the newly revealed executive.

  However, finding information using the breath that came out through his respiration was not easy. Jihyeon felt the matter had become much more bothersome than he thought and gave a wry smile.

  The executive quietly looked at the victims' families and spoke.

  "Why are you committing such an act of disrespect in front of our sacred church?"

  The executive asked in a voice dripping with arrogance rather than politeness. No, it wasn't a question.

  Provocation.

  It was a provocation mixed with derision. Naturally, the devotees listening to his words were all getting agitated.

  "Disrespectful?"

  Naturally, the victims' families couldn't help but notice that. They were enraged and shouted loudly once again.

  "Do you think you have the right to say such a thing?"

  The man representing the victims' families shouted. The executive then smiled and looked at his devotees.

  "Where else would there be such a sorrowful event? These people have come to be our enemies, denying the teachings given to us by the Leader who passed before us. What should we do for such people?"

  The executive shouted as if putting on a show. It was an action intended to incite people, and the fanatics became excited and shouted in response.

  "Heavenly punishment! Heavenly punishment! Heavenly punishment!"

  At the word 'Heavenly punishment,' the executive shouted with an exaggerated movement.

  "That's right! We must now follow what the former Leader taught us! The truth for these blasphemers!"

  The executive said that and spread his hands. Then, something began to emerge from his two hands.

  "It's different..."

  It was a power different from Jihyeon's.

  Fire.

  The executive created fire from both hands. It was real fire, identifiable at a glance.

  "W-What! What kind of t-trick is this!"

  The representative of the victim families shouted in disbelief. But the executive grinned and declared.

  "This is the power left by the Leader, who has now become a new God in heaven. It is for the day when all heretics like you are purified and the true truth spreads throughout the world."

  The executive said that and was about to unleash the fire in his hands. If things went on like this, something dangerous would surely happen.

  Jihyeon, as if he had no choice, unleashed his own power. Discreetly, in a way no one could see, and only for a brief moment that no one could perceive.

  And a moment later, a bolt of lightning struck between the executive and the victims' representative.