Looking at J blocking the door with an expressionless face, Eun Woojeong raised one eyebrow.
“That face looks familiar. If my memory’s right, isn’t he the one Cha Seohu was looking for?”
“...Something’s off.”
Four blades rose into the air behind Kwon Taehyuk, who had already widened the distance.
Ryu Sunghyun, hearing the mutter, nodded beside him.
“I can’t read any emotion from his face. The cult definitely did something to him.”
“Hmm.”
Letting out the short sound, Eun Woojeong curled one corner of his mouth up.
“Either way, right now he’s just an obstacle blocking our path. Let’s clear him out.”
When Eun Woojeong flicked his hand, several chains that appeared in midair came raining down toward J.
Clang—!
The hooks at the ends of the chains crashed against the scythe made of shadow. With one wide sweep of the weapon, J cut through all of them in an instant, then lunged in for real.
Boom!
The moment the sharp shadow scythe struck the floor, the ground split open with a crack and fragments of stone flew up. At the same time, shadow billowed out of the broken floor like spilled ink.
Barely dodging it, Ryu Sunghyun reeled inwardly and hurriedly used his skill.
A burst of golden light exploded out and forced the shadows back. The shadow that had been surging forward without restraint faltered under the light and retreated a little.
It works.
Ryu Sunghyun felt a surge of strength at the fact that his skill, which had failed to work on Cha Sahyeon, was at least somewhat effective against J, and he poured in even more power.
The dark interior of the church brightened until it looked like broad daylight.
As the power of the shadows weakened, J’s brows drew together slightly.
And in that opening, Kwon Taehyuk drove forward.
Snatching one of the four blades floating in the air, he closed the distance to J in a flash and swung his arm.
“Urgh!”
J, who had barely been blocking the relentless barrage of attacks coming at blinding speed, finally let out his first stifled groan.
He threw all his strength into shoving Kwon Taehyuk back with his scythe and was just about to kick off the floor and retreat—
At some point, thick golden vines had shot up from the ground and wrapped around both his legs.
The vines bound his legs tight and dragged him downward.
Right after that, pure white chains flew in and bound both of his arms as well.
Wearing a look that plainly said this is bad, J looked up at Eun Woojeong, who had walked right up in front of him.
“Why don’t you take a little nap.”
Eun Woojeong struck him mercilessly across the back of the neck.
J twitched on reflex, trying to dodge, but in the end he couldn’t hold out and went limp.
“Did you actually hit him properly?”
Kwon Taehyuk, watching the unconscious J, shot Eun Woojeong a suspicious glare. Eun Woojeong shrugged.
“I was going to smack him in the face, but I was thoughtful enough to switch to a proper knockout. Looking at me like that kind of hurts.”
“It’s a relief he’s weaker than Hunter Cha Seohu’s younger brother.”
Remembering the sheer force of the other shadow skill they had encountered inside the unidentified Rift, Ryu Sunghyun looked sincerely relieved that the situation had been brought under control at this level.
Kwon Taehyuk stared at the unconscious J for a moment with a complicated expression, then spoke.
“We need to take him with us.”
“Seriously?”
Eun Woojeong looked incredulous.
“Maybe you forgot, so let me remind you—we didn’t come here for a fun outing. We’re not here to pray at church either. So why exactly are we taking this with us?”
“He’s someone Hunter Cha Seohu was looking for. And he’s deeply connected to the captured Yoon Jeha. Most likely.”
“Then we can just tie him up here and go down ourselves, can’t we?”
Kwon Taehyuk’s voice grew even firmer.
“And he’s probably the one who knows the most about those cult bastards. We’re going into a place where we have no information and taking a risk either way. There’s no downside to bringing along someone who might give us information if he wakes up.”
Eun Woojeong stared at Kwon Taehyuk.
“...Fine. Do whatever you want. I’m not lifting a finger to help.”
He had already noticed that beyond pure practical value, Kwon Taehyuk also felt some degree of pity for J, but Eun Woojeong did not bother continuing the argument and simply turned away.
Kwon Taehyuk nodded and, as though it were only natural, hoisted the unconscious J onto his own back.
“Let’s go.”
The three of them opened the door J had been guarding.
A staircase appeared beyond it, stretching far downward into darkness.
The thick shadows poured down for a long time before finally stopping.
The Cult Leader, who had stood there watching with a smile as Cha Seohu was pressed down and buried beneath the black liquid, only moved after a while.
He raised one arm and crooked his fingers. The believers who had been waiting immediately hurried over.
Without the slightest hesitation, they plunged their hands into the thick black fluid. The believers pulled the unconscious Cha Seohu out of it and laid him down before the Cult Leader as if presenting an offering.
“Ah, how pretty.”
The Cult Leader murmured as he looked down at Cha Seohu lying before him with his eyes closed.
“This suits you very well, Mr. Cha Seohu.”
His eyes curving as if delighted, the Cult Leader bent down in person and reached out both arms.
With one hand supporting Cha Seohu’s back and the other beneath his legs, he lifted him into his arms and began walking.
A believer carrying a lantern quickly came up beside him and lit the dark temple hall.
Holding Cha Seohu in his arms, the Cult Leader walked deeper inside. Only after passing several enormous pillars did he arrive at a certain door.
The door looked strangely modern against the surrounding scenery. It was stark white like a laboratory door, and an iris scanner was mounted on the wall.
A blue light scanned the Cult Leader’s eye, the lock released, and the door opened automatically.
He leaned close to the Cha Seohu in his arms and whispered gently,
“There now. This will be your new home.”
The moment he stepped inside, the lights came on by themselves and brightly illuminated the room.
A laboratory came into view, its every detail so controlled and calculated it felt unnatural.
On worktables made of cold metallic materials lay scattered, in apparent disorder, delicate micro-components that had not yet been fully assembled and tablet-like documents with holographic blueprints hovering above them.
One wall of the room was made up of a massive floor-to-ceiling smart monitor. Across it, along with continuously updating biometric data, dozens of transparent scans of the human body floated in dense layers like holographic panels.
Those tightly packed images, with blood flow and neural networks separated out by color, made it obvious that someone had obsessively analyzed the human body.
And beyond the glass wall opposite it—
there was a vast garden.
But every plant had roots as black as ink, and petals of a murky green.
At the center of the garden stood a large tree. Its trunk trembled as though pulsing, and its leaves shivered. Below it, the roots moved and writhed like living snakes.
The Cult Leader walked all the way to the glass and gazed at the sight in rapture before speaking.
“Can you see it, Mr. Cha Seohu? It already knows how perfect the new fertilizer is.”
A desire rose in him to open the door to the garden that very instant and go to the tree, but the Cult Leader forcibly shook his head and steadied himself.
“No, that won’t do. If I hand you over too hastily just because I’m excited, I’ll only waste precious fertilizer.”
Stepping away from the glass, the Cult Leader laid Cha Seohu down on an iron bed set to one side of the laboratory. The hands that eased him onto the bed were extraordinarily careful.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Cha Seohu.”
Whispering with a tender gaze, the Cult Leader wiped the black fluid from Cha Seohu’s cheek.
“Everything will be perfectly fine. All you need to do is sleep without any pain. To start with... shall we make the first round one month?”
The Cult Leader moved busily.
He dragged over a chair and connected devices to Cha Seohu’s body. None of the calm composure or easy grace he had shown until now remained. It was obvious he was swollen with anticipation for something he had been longing for.
“There now, Mr. Cha Seohu.”
When his preparations were complete, the Cult Leader approached the bed again.
Then he raised a hand and began undoing the buttons of the clothes he was wearing.
The white ceremonial robe stained with blood slowly began to come off. The hands unfastening the buttons trembled faintly.
“I’ll see you in a month.”
The Cult Leader pulled the opened upper garment apart to both sides.
His chest and abdomen were revealed.
Then the center of his upper body split open lengthwise.
Something wriggled out through the opening.
What emerged from inside him, dripping thick black liquid as it slid out of his body, was a mass of tentacles divided into dozens of strands.
The constantly writhing tentacles touched Cha Seohu’s body.
Then they latched onto him and slowly began to pull.
First his wrist.
Then his entire arm.
Then his shoulder.
Cha Seohu’s body, lying on the bed, was being steadily, unmistakably dragged into the Cult Leader’s body by the tentacles.
At the eerie, freezing cold, Cha Seohu’s brows twitched in a slight frown, but he could not wake.
“Just a little more, more...”
the Cult Leader said in a trembling voice.
In the end, one entire arm was swallowed.
Then, over the shoulder, half of Cha Seohu’s head disappeared inside.

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