*‘The window? Or is it a vent?’*

Along with the light, the strange sound that had been coming from the area seemed to be coming from there.  

Seongho approached the crow, curious to confirm the source of the sound and light.  

He crouched low, almost lying flat, and peered through the window at his feet.  

Everything in his line of sight was lower than Seongho’s position.  

*‘It’s the basement.’*  

As soon as he roughly figured out the internal structure, he heard a thud.  

Seongho shuddered as he quickly scanned the room for the source of the sound.  

In one corner of the basement, several people were striking with knives, their faces expressionless.  

Their eyes were vacant, and they were cutting something bright red.  

When Seongho saw one of their faces, his expression stiffened.  

*‘Jeong Han-su.’*  

The man from the photograph he had seen earlier in the storage, the bishop of this church.  

* * *  

Jeong Han-su watched as the arms of himself and the priests rose high into the air, seeking the owner.  

‘Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.’  
1 Peter 5:7  

‘Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.’  
1 Peter 5:8  

It was a passage instructing him to resist the devil’s attacks through vigilance and faith.  

As he repeated the words of his master, he couldn’t stop the arms, which soared toward the sky, from falling downward.  

Thud, thud, thud.  

The priests followed suit, striking with their knives, but there was no expression on their faces.  

The scene, drenched in blood, felt like hell itself.  

It was a hell that, despite being repeated every day, could never become familiar.  

To avoid going mad, Jeong Han-su prayed endlessly.  

‘Then Yahaziel said, “Hear, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s.’”’  
2 Chronicles 20:15  

‘You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.’  
2 Chronicles 20:17  

He had to recognize that the battle was between God and Satan and that he was merely in the middle.  

If his faith crumbled because of the devil, it would harm God.  

He knew God would always win the battle, so he had to act courageously.  

*‘But what if, despite knowing all that, it feels like I’m about to break?’*  

Despite every effort to keep himself strong, he kept breaking down again and again.  

Would the day ever come when his faith in God would rescue him from this hell?  

It was a question stained by disbelief.  

*Tap, tap.*

He felt a presence behind him.  

Jeong Han-su tensed up.  

The demons who had created this hell never came here in person.  

While they greedily devoured sin, they left the brutality and suffering to the priests and those who worshiped God here.  

*‘But who is this presence now?’*  

What kind of trial would the brothers and sisters who had fallen into this hell face next?  

Was there an even worse hell waiting for them?  

As his soul trembled helplessly, he heard a suppressed voice.  

"Go Ji-hoon, you crazy bastard..."  

At the same time, a dull pain struck Jeong Han-su’s raised arm.  

The weapon he had been holding slipped from his hand.  

*Clink.*

His body, controlled by the order, moved to pick up the knife again, but a rough and cautious hand stopped him.  

When Jeong Han-su finally faced the person who had stopped him, he saw a young man with a hardened expression and cold eyes.  

And, to his surprise, a completely unexpected person was sitting on the young man’s shoulder.  

*Caaw!*  

The mournful cry was familiar.  

Just as Jeong Han-su recognized the face, the unfamiliar young man pulled his arm back and said,  

"...Let’s rest for a bit."  

A strong pain that seemed to twist his insides struck Jeong Han-su’s abdomen, and his consciousness began to fade.  

Even so, he felt a sense of gratitude, as if reaching the heavens.  

‘Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.’”’  
Matthew 4:10  

Finally, the evil retreated, and salvation came.  

* * *  

Seongho caught the collapsing Jeong Han-su’s body, biting down hard.  

*Caaw!*

*Caaw!*  

The crow on his shoulder began to cry out loudly, as though scolding him.  

Seongho scowled and shoved the crow off his shoulder, but it became even more raucous.  

His irritation flared as he repeatedly swatted at the crow.  

"Shut up. If you keep screeching like an animal, I’ll toss these people outside."  

Although it felt ridiculous to be talking to the crow, it miraculously quieted as soon as Seongho mentioned the church people.  

It seemed to have understood the threat.  

Seongho had no choice but to acknowledge that this crow was no ordinary bird.  

If it had been an ordinary beast, it wouldn’t have been able to lead Seongho here in the first place.  

Of course, Seongho had no idea how this was possible.  

He couldn’t ask the crow directly, and he didn’t know how it worked.  

*‘It must be a fantasy world, so I guess even the crows are for fantasy purposes.’*

Seongho gave up on pondering the matter deeply.  

Instead, he moved Jeong Han-su to a corner and laid him down.  

He then proceeded to knock out the other priests and nuns, who were still absorbed in their work.  

No one tried to stop him during this process.  

Go Ji-hoon had overestimated his abilities and hadn’t assigned a single subordinate to manage the place.  

No one wanted to stay in this place, filled with blood and stench, so it had naturally worked out this way.  

*‘With the puppet ability, there won’t be any traitors coming out of here.’*

Seongho gathered the church people in one place.  

Six people were now lying cold on the floor, unconscious.  

He didn’t remember all of their faces, but most of them were people he had seen on the church’s organizational chart.  

*‘I thought they would already be dead.’*

In some ways, it was worse than death.  

Seongho, clenching his teeth, searched through the basement.  

Soon, he found various chains and ropes.  

They were soaked in blood, sticking to everything, but still,  

*‘I can’t just leave them here.’*

Even if it was impossible to cut the threads right now, he could at least prevent them from killing anyone.  

As he tied up the church people, a hidden anger began to surge within him.  

That anger was clearly directed at Go Ji-hoon, who had caused all this chaos.  

*‘He chose to survive easily by devouring human flesh.’*

But the suffering and hardships of that process were pushed onto others.  

He took all the rewards while others bore the consequences.  

*‘Cowardly bastard.’*

The people being controlled weren’t brainwashed.  

Their personalities were intact, but their bodies were under control.  

This was far too cruel for an ordinary person to endure.  

*‘It’s a miracle they haven’t gone mad.’*

Or perhaps, the people he was tying up had already gone mad.  

Seongho exhaled deeply, his heart heavy.  

After tying them all up, he stood, and the truly surreal scene before him overwhelmed his vision.  

A scene straight out of a gore-filled video game.  

A space filled with the corpses of the dead and soaked in blood.  

The traces of slaughter in this place made his mind go blank for a moment.  

It didn’t feel like reality.  

It was the same sensation Seongho had felt the night he first fell into this world.  

The eerie feeling of disconnection between his feet on the ground and the world around him.  

*Crunch.*  

Seongho gritted his teeth and forced himself to endure that far-off feeling.  

“*Huff, huff.*”  

After a few moments, he finally broke free from that suffocating state.  

Taking a deep breath, Seongho steadied his body, now weak and weary.  

He stumbled toward a nearby table, where thick, congealed blood stuck to his hands.  

Yet, this time, he stood up straight and moved forward.  

*‘Let’s see if there are any survivors.’*

If there was even one, it would make persuading the survivors at the school building easier.  

*‘But if they still believe this place is a paradise, they won’t listen to a word I say.’*

He needed to check if any survivors were still alive.

  

Unfortunately, all he found were traces of slaughter.  

There were no survivors.  

But Seongho couldn’t leave empty-handed.  

He reached for the heads of the dead.  

There were plenty of bloodied sacks lying around, so it wasn’t a problem to take one.  

Though he gagged several times while collecting the heads, he didn’t stop.  

Afterward, Seongho grabbed a camp lantern and stood up.  

But just as he was about to step out of the basement, he had to stop.  

The church people, still left behind, were the reason.  

*‘I can’t just leave them like this. I can’t take them with me either.’*

It was impossible for Seongho to carry all of them alone.  

So, leaving them tied up here in the building seemed to be the best option for both them and Seongho.  

He knew it was the right decision in his head, but his feet still wouldn’t move.  

He had seen firsthand what they had gone through in this place.  

“Damn it.”  

In the end, Seongho put down all the things he had gathered.  

*‘At least move them somewhere without blood.’*  

That way, when they woke up, they wouldn’t have to see blood and corpses.  

Perhaps, in case something went wrong, it would be safer to keep them in a place where they couldn’t escape.  

Seongho began searching the basement frantically for a suitable location.  

After a short while, he found a small, ideal storage room.  

He reached out to move the church people there.  

But the crow, which had been perched beside Jeong Han-su, stopped him.  

As Seongho reached for the bishop, the crow flapped its wings threateningly and cried out.  

Seongho frowned and swatted at it again.  

*‘Huff... I’m trying to move them somewhere safe.’*  

At first, the crow looked at him warily but then backed off when Seongho spoke gently.  

The crow then flew across the basement, stopping at a corner with some plumbing equipment.  

It turned and looked back at Seongho, as if checking if he was following.  

*‘What’s it up to now?’*  

Seongho narrowed his eyes in suspicion.  

As the crow pecked at the ground near the corner, Seongho approached and discovered a steel door.  

The lock was carefully secured, but with the rebar cutter, it was no problem.  

Seongho cut through the lock, and the door creaked open.  

In the pitch-black darkness, Seongho illuminated the area with the lantern.  

He saw iron bars inside.  

Climbing down a ladder, he saw the bars wrapped in chains.  

What was this?  

When his hand reached for the chains, the memory suddenly clicked.  

*‘Is this...?’*