“Ah~ What do you know, I was actually suffering with pain in my wrist. What a disgrace this is, eh?”

“I don’t know what to say. We at dBP will take full responsibility and ensure your injuries are handled appropriately. If you want, I can grind up the guards and leave them to the fish.”

“Huh? No, that would be unnecessary. I’m fine with just the compensation.” My uncle scratched his head as if he was embarrassed. “Anyhow, should we get back to the contract details?”

My uncle joyfully took out the contract and handed it to Bae Jung-Hwan. Bae Jung-Hwan made a big fuss when he received the contract and acted as if it was made of gold.

“First, dBP will sponsor three high-quality holy artifacts to the Voodooists.” My uncle started reading the contract details. His demeanor resembled that of a creditor in front of a debtor. One would have thought he was a loan shark if one heard his voice and looked at his face.

“Second, all the money mentioned in the contract will be paid in full in cash. We can't afford to leave any evidence behind.”

“Yes, of course.”

“Oh, and you mustn’t relay any information about the Voodooists. Any harm to the cult leader could potentially translate to your wife.”

“Of course. How could I betray my benefactor?” Bae Jung-Hwan was ready to give us anything we asked for. It was pretty obvious why: we had saved his wife and brought her back from a coma. We were as good as gods to him.

“Hm, I think that’s enough. You can give us the offerings during the next service you participate in, and we’ll plan a day where you can sponsor us with the holy artifacts.” My uncle stood up. I grabbed him and sat him back down. I had a few things to say about Bae Jung-Hwan's son, Bae Sung-Hyun.

“Your son goes to F.A., right?”

Bae Jung-Hwan’s eyes widened with surprise. Soon, his eyes and lips started to shake like crazy. He looked afraid. “Yes, he does.”

“Doesn’t your son come back home late at night?”

“How, how do you know that..?!” The fear in Bae Jung-Hwan’s eyes seemed to grow stronger.

“Haha, our cult leader can see right through us sometimes.” My uncle lied without flinching.

I had no talent in reading people’s minds. I just knew what Bae Sung-Hyun was usually up to. I went to school with him, after all. But that wasn’t important.

“It would be helpful if you decrease the money you spend on your son. For example, the money spent on his allowance or the money you donate to F.A.”

“Money? Would it be possible to know why?”

“The money you are giving to your son is leading him down the road of a delinquent. It would be beneficial to decrease the financial support you give him for the sake of his future. It might also be good to give him a good scolding.”

“Our cult leader sometimes even reads the future, hahaha.” My uncle quickly added to my suggestion. Huh, read the future? Ha, as if. I couldn’t even see my future. Why’d he have to make up such fancy lies?

However, it seemed like Bae Jung-Hwan was buying it. His eyes twinkled with faith and belief. After all, people who fell into the grasp of religion tended to believe whatever they wanted to. It was weird coming from me since I was a leader of a cult myself.

“This is not an intrusion, but merely advice about what’s best for your son,” I said, glaring at my calm, lying uncle.

“Ah, I don’t know how to say how thankful I am. Not only did you save my wife, but you’re caring for my son too.”

“It’s nothing. We will be going then.” With that, I got up from my seat.

As I took off my mask behind the closed elevator doors, my uncle spoke up as if he had been waiting to talk. “Hey, why did you talk about his son?”

“Just cause. His son is weird.”

“Why? Is he bothering you?”

“Not me. But he bothers other kids.”

“Huh? He must be loaded if he’s the son of the chairman. Why is he like that?” My uncle grimaced as if he didn’t understand.

Even I couldn't understand why Bae Sung-Hyun would do such a thing when he grew up with everything he ever needed. I had said the meaningless last part of the conversation in hopes that Bae Sung-Hyun would change his ways and refrain from acting so brashly. I left the dBP building without putting too much thought into what would happen and got into my uncle’s car in the parking lot. As Bae Jung-Hwan had promised, the CCTV records from today would be wiped out.

***

After finishing Bae Jung-Hwan’s request, I spent the rest of the weekend practicing conjuring arrays using divine power. I was successful in conjuring a lesser array but was not at all successful in conjuring moderate ones. To give some context, all students in F.A. could use moderate arrays. That is, excluding me. This meant that I was lagging when compared to everyone else.

As I spent time focusing on drawing moderate blessing arrays—

“Yes!” I was finally able to draw one successfully.

[What do you mean yes? You failed.]

However, no light of blessing came out of my blessing array. Soon after, my suspended blessing array lost its color and turned to dust, and with it, so did my hope-filled heart. I let out a big sigh and drew a curse array with voodoo magic, just for the sake of it.

Not only was it incredibly easy to draw moderate curse arrays, but it was easy to draw greater curse arrays as well. The drawn curse array glowed brilliantly and emitted a mystical purple mist.

Why was it so easy to use voodoo magic and so hard to use divine power? Why was I so inept in using divine power? How would I become a prelate if I had no talent in using divine power, and how would I graduate? The anxiety and despair hiding in the corner of my heart slowly creeped out.

[It’s okay. Remember, your exceptional talent is in voodoo magic!] Legba spoke amidst me drowning in despair. As always, they were not helping. It just increased the void inside of me.

I needed to conjure a moderate blessing array in preparation for ‘that class’ tomorrow. But at this rate, I couldn’t see myself succeeding. It just seemed like I would just keep failing.

[Again!!] Whenever I felt discouraged from the repetitive failures, Legba’s voice would help me pull myself together. I pressed on, telling myself that whenever there was a will there was a way.

***

The sun came up the next day, and my head was spinning, seemingly because of the lack of sleep. My steps toward school felt like lumps of lead. I’d probably fall to my knees if I lost concentration, even for a bit.

The leading cause of this was the all-nighter I pulled trying to draw a moderate blessing array. Somehow, I arrived on time, and homeroom class zipped by as I wasn’t fully conscious of what was happening. Finally, it was time for that class.

“Hello, everyone~ We greeted each other during homeroom, so let’s get straight to class, shall we?” Ha Ye-Jin announced the start of class with a cheery voice. She held up a chalk and started writing something on the blackboard.

<Utilization and understanding of divine power>

It was the name of this class. As the name suggested, this class was focused on learning about divine power. This was why I had stayed up the whole night drawing blessing arrays.

“It’s our first class together. Anyway, in this class, as everyone knows, we will learn about blessings and the three ways to utilize divine power.” As she spoke, Ha Ye-Jin expelled her divine power and drew two blessing arrays. Her divine power boasted a quality incomparable to that of a mere student. What was more impressive was that it took her less than three seconds to complete the two blessing arrays.

‘F.A. teachers are on another level.’ I thought in admiration.

“I’ve just drawn two different blessing arrays. At first glance, the two arrays look alike. However, they are overtly different types of blessing arrays, especially fundamentally.” Ha Ye-Jin added to her explanation. “Now, here’s a question for you all. How can we distinguish one from the other? Can anyone explain?”

Ha Ye-Jin looked around at the students with a beaming smile.

Without exceptions, everyone avoided eye contact. A bleak silence filled the classroom.

Just before Ha Ye-Jin's face hardened with disappointment at the poor classroom participation, someone spoke up.

“I think I know the answer,” someone said, raising their hand. Everyone looked at her with surprise. Jung In-Ah said with a slight smile, “It looks like the cores of the blessings are a little different from each other.”

“Would you be able to elaborate and give a more detailed and accurate explanation?” Ha Ye-Jin’s face, almost hardened with disappointment, started to light up.

“To start with the shape of the core, one is spherical while the other is more elliptical, uh, um, and…”

“Yes, yes. Is there anything else?”

Jung In-Ah’s face was noticeably red as she continued explaining. It seemed like she started to feel shy from all the attention she was getting. Oblivious to Jung In-Ah’s feelings, Ha Ye-Jin pressed on.

“Looking at the cores, the one with a spherical core is a blessing array, while the other seems to be a healing array… I’m not sure, but that’s what it seems like.”

“Wonderful!” Ha Ye-Jin laughed whole-heartedly and clapped. The students in the class followed suit, clapping reluctantly. Jung In-Ah shyly sat down amidst the applause for her.

“These two blessing arrays may look like they have the same shape, but their cores are slightly different. Just by adjusting the shape of the core, one can change the nature of the blessing array itself. I would think that up until now, everyone has been drawing their blessing arrays by relying on their instincts to guide them. But, if you utilize the concept of the core of the array, you will be able to complete more precise and high-quality blessing arrays.” Ha Ye-Jin excitedly explained. To summarize, this meant that one would have an easier time drawing blessing arrays if one paid attention to the shape of the core.

This was important information for someone like me, since I could not draw a proper moderate blessing array. I jotted down Ha Ye-Jin’s advice in my notebook.

“As you can see, divine power can be utilized through drawing blessing arrays of healing arrays! Now, onto the next question!” Ha Ye-Jin’s quizzing time had returned. The students hung their heads low even before she asked her question.

“Is there another way to use divine power without the help of blessing arrays and healing arrays?”

“I’ll answer.” This time, Bae Sung-Hyun answered.

“Oh, please do.”

“Other than using blessing and healing arrays, you can also use divine power through a method called ‘miracles.’”

“Correct, well done.” Ha Ye-Jin smiled as if she was satisfied. However, there was no clapping like before. This didn’t seem to sit right with Bae Sung-Hyun, as he scowled and sat back down.

“Although you can only use blessing arrays and healing arrays at the moment, you can use ‘miracles’ as you improve your skill level. Showing you would be easier.” Ha Ye-Jin quietly and calmly clasped her hands in front of her chest. As she closed her eyes and mumbled a prayer, divine power started to emit out of her.

The divine power soon formed a black, murky cloud. It seemed dense as if it was holding in a lot of precipitation. It was a rain cloud. The rain cloud eventually grew and filled the entire room.

Swaaaaaa—! Soon, it started to rain.

“As you can see, we can replicate the miracles previously performed by saints and the glorious ones in the heavens. We call this miracle replication, or miracle for short. Woah, the rainfall is stronger than I thought.”

Once again, Ha Ye-Jin clasped her hands together near her chest. Her body emitted divine power, and the divine power took the shape of a small sun shining brightly onto us.

The sunlight warmed up our bodies which were drenched by the rain.

“You will not be able to use miracles yet. However, there’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s normal not to be able to use miracles at your age. With practice, you will be able to perform miracles yourself.” Ha Ye-Jin continued with a smile.

“Well, sometimes you aren’t able to perform miracles if you don’t have the talent to do so. Anyway! Shall we rest to dry ourselves? Take a minute!” The passionately teaching Han Ye-Jin offered a break. Her class went by too fast, and it felt draining to listen to her. I completely understood why she wanted a break. It must have been hard for Ha Ye-Jin herself if it was this hard for us.

After one minute, Ha Ye-Jin recovered and started class once again. She had an awesome recovery. When it came to teaching, ‌she was almost always filled with energy. “I am going to need two volunteers well versed in divine power. Hmmm. Who to pick?”

Ha Ye-Jin scanned the class with sharp eyes. I looked outside the windows, pretending not to pay attention. I then looked up and locked eyes with her for a split second. Her eyes lit up.

I had a bad feeling.

“It seems only fit that we have the two individuals with the highest grades in the evaluation.”

And my intuition never fails me.

“Do Sun-Woo and Bae Sung-Hyun, please join me in front of the class.”