The Way to Save the Crazy Returnees Chapter 84 - Salvation (5)

 

 

“Gyaaaah!”

 

“Aaaargh!”

 

“Kyaaaah!”

 

Various screams rang sharply through the prayer hall, where time itself had frozen.

 

“You piece of shit, are you seriously not going to stop him?”

 

Blood splattering from the elders stained the cheeks of the believers, who stood frozen like statues.

 

Drip. Drip.

 

Blood trickled down their faces onto the floor. 

 

“Can’t you hear me, you piece of shit?”

 

“I can.”

 

I answered the pointed question calmly.

 

“Even if I tried to stop him, he wouldn’t listen.”

 

“Hm.”

 

Han Young-won rested her chin on one hand and muttered,

 

“Well, that does seem to be the case. His eyes are completely gone. He reminds me of those Righteous Sect bastards who charged at me like rabid dogs, screaming about avenging their senior brothers and sisters after I killed them.”

 

Han Young-won reminisced that the people back then hadn’t looked much different from the ones here now. And just as she said, Lee Man-deuk looked like someone who had half lost his mind.

 

“S-save me! A-aaagh!”

 

Even as the elder begged for his life, Lee Man-deuk crushed his leg beyond recognition.

 

“Y-you son of a bitch!”

 

One of the elders charged at him.

 

“Kuheok…!”

 

Only to be casually sent flying.

 

The elder’s body slammed into the wall before collapsing limply to the ground. Coughing up blood, his face quickly turned pale.

 

“He’s not dead.”

 

“I know.”

 

Lee Man-deuk was making sure none of the elders of the Ark of Universal Salvation Church actually died. The elder who had just been slammed into the wall was proof enough.

 

The others were no different.

 

Their limbs were twisted until bones jutted out, their skulls cracked open with blood pouring down their faces, yet none of them died. But the pain must have been unbearable, because some of the elders even begged to be killed.

 

Of course, their desperate pleas—

 

“Why would I?”

 

—were thoroughly ignored.

 

Lee Man-deuk kicked away the elder, clinging to his pant leg.

 

Crack!

 

The sound of bones shattering echoed ominously through the prayer hall. The dozen or so elders were left crawling across the floor.

 

Standing over them, Lee Man-deuk spoke calmly.

 

“You people spent all this time feeding yourselves off the desperation of those seeking salvation.”

 

Encouraging them to abandon not only themselves, but even their own families.

 

“You must’ve happily spewed whatever nonsense came to mind, claiming it would bring them salvation. Isn’t that right?”

 

Lee Man-deuk twisted his face viciously and stomped down hard on an elder’s back.

 

“P-please spare me… p-please!”

 

“Shut up.”

 

Thud!

 

Lee Man-deuk kicked away the elder he had been trampling.

 

“Gaaagh!”

 

Whether the elder screamed or not, Lee Man-deuk continued beating and crushing them apart with a smile on his face.

 

Almost delirious with excitement as he beat them, he suddenly asked,

 

“Ah, right. Does anyone here know someone named Ji Su-ja?”

 

Ji Su-ja?

 

The name sounded familiar.

 

Because that name was—

 

‘Lee Man-deuk’s mother.’

 

That was her name.

 

The elders blinked nervously with frightened eyes. Then one of them slowly raised his hand.

 

“M-me! I know her! I do!”

 

“You know her?”

 

“Yes! I-I was the one who brought her here as a believer!”

 

“…You brought her here.”

 

“T-that’s right!”

 

The corner of Lee Man-deuk’s mouth twitched upward. Covering his mouth with one hand, he asked,

 

“When?”

 

“W-well… I think it was around five years ago…”

 

Bleeding all over, the man hesitated as he met Lee Man-deuk’s gaze.

 

“Then where is she now?”

 

“Huh? W-well… that is…”

 

Unable to answer properly, the man watched as Lee Man-deuk slowly approached him.

 

“Go on. Tell me.”

 

Closing the distance in an instant, Lee Man-deuk distorted his face and asked again,

 

“Tell me where she is now. Go on.”

 

“H-hyaaa—!”

 

The elder trembled as he stumbled backward. 

 

Lee Man-deuk grabbed him by the head and—

 

Bang!

 

Slammed him straight into the floor.

 

“H-hhk…!”

 

The elders screamed.

 

The man whose head had been driven into the floor went limp. For a moment, it looked as though he had died, but faint breaths still escaped him.

 

After reducing the man who had led his mother into this place to a near-death state, Lee Man-deuk dusted off his hands and said,

 

“Think of it as reaping what you sowed. Though this still isn’t nearly enough. Ah, and for the record, that goes for all of you too.”

 

Lee Man-deuk flashed a wide smile at the elders who had backed themselves into the corner.

 

“You exploited the people here all this time, and you think a few broken limbs and cracked skulls are enough to make up for it?”

 

The smiling mage looked like a demon crawling straight out of hell.

 

“U-uaaagh!”

 

The elders screamed and desperately pounded on the tightly shut doors. Some of them even—

 

“D-don’t come any closer! Fuck, stay back! If you come near me, I’ll kill this bastard! Got it?!”

 

—took the believers frozen within stopped time hostage.

 

“How is it that trash always acts the same? It’s honestly fascinating.”

 

Lee Man-deuk let out a short laugh before casting a spell. Although it was long past sunset, the prayer hall was instantly flooded with brilliant light.

 

Standing with that light at his back, he asked me, 

 

“Don’t you think so too, CEO Kwak?”

 

I couldn’t answer the question asked with a smile.

 

The elders swallowed by the light were screaming in agony. And when the light faded, the sight left behind was horrific.

 

The elders who had desperately pounded on the doors trying to escape the prayer hall, and the elders who had taken believers hostage—

 

“Ugh… ngh…”

 

—were all barely clinging to life.

 

“Well then, now only that bastard’s left, huh?”

 

Lee Man-deuk smiled brightly as he pointed at Han Young-won—or more precisely, the cult leader whose body she had taken over.

 

“Sapa bastard, are you planning to fight me?”

 

Han Young-won asked with a crooked grin.

 

Lee Man-deuk laughed as though mocking a barking dog.

 

“Quit spewing bullshit and get out of that body already.”

 

His smiling face twisted viciously.

 

“I might let every other bastard here live, but I can’t leave alive the body you’re occupying.”

 

“Mr. Lee Man-deuk.”

 

“If you’re trying to stop me, don’t bother.”

 

He spat the words out sharply.

 

“You knew I’d react like this from the start, didn’t you? That’s why you came here with me. Am I wrong, CEO Kwak?” 

 

“Yes, I knew.”

 

But still—

 

“Could you reconsider? If the cult leader suddenly disappears, the people here will fall into chaos.”

 

Just as he said, the ones who ended up in this place had done so out of desperation to be “saved.” Some might even take their own lives, believing their master had already ascended to heaven.

 

“So…”

 

I continued carefully.

 

“Could you at least spare him until Ms. Han Young-won becomes this place’s new cult leader?”

 

“And why should I do that?”

 

Lee Man-deuk frowned.

 

“You want me to care about idiots who lacked enough judgment and got themselves dragged into a cult? No thanks.”

 

“Mr. Lee Man-deuk.”

 

“I said no!”

 

He suddenly shouted.

 

“I know my mother was one of those idiots who lost her mind and got dragged into a damn cult! That’s exactly why I hate this!”

 

The Ark of Universal Salvation Church.

 

Lee Man-deuk acted as though he had stepped in because he was worried they might approach his younger siblings, but—

 

“Fuck! Why the hell did that woman have to lose herself in a place like this?!”

 

—it seemed the mage truly wanted to destroy, with his own hands, the place that had ruined his mother.

 

Just looking at how he had reduced the elder who brought her here to a near-death state made that obvious enough.

 

“Fuck…”

 

Lee Man-deuk clenched both fists tightly.

 

I carefully wrapped my hands around his and spoke.

 

“If it were Deok-soon and Soon-deuk, they’d probably want your hands to remain unstained by any more blood.”

 

“Right. That piece-of-shit bastard’s right.”

 

Han Young-won backed up my words.

 

“I’ll deal with this worm’s body myself once everything here is settled, so calm down already.”

 

“…You’d better keep your word.”

 

Lee Man-deuk shook off my hand and threw a warning at Han Young-won.

 

“Otherwise, I’ll make you end up just like the bastards sprawled all over this place.”

 

As if telling him to try it if he could, Han Young-won grinned broadly.

 

That only made Lee Man-deuk’s expression twist further.

 

“Annoying bastard.”

 

Then he abruptly turned around.

 

At the same time, all the elders lying sprawled across the floor vanished. The only traces proving they had ever been there were the bloodstains scattered throughout the prayer hall.

 

I briefly glanced over those traces before asking Lee Man-deuk,

 

“Where did you send the elders?”

 

“The West Sea.”

 

Lee Man-deuk answered plainly.

 

“I was going to dump them in the Han River, but I figured they’d be found too quickly.”

 

So he had thrown them into the sea instead.

 

Lee Man-deuk gave a twisted smile. 

 

“If they can swim well enough, they might survive.”

 

Who could swim after having their limbs broken and skulls smashed in? It was cruel in many ways, but I held my tongue. After all, dozens of people had already lost their lives because of them.

 

‘They brought it on themselves.’

 

Lee Man-deuk also used magic to completely clean up the prayer hall, which had been left in a gruesome state by the elders’ blood.

 

Even the clothes he wore became spotless again.

 

“I tampered with the memories of the people here too. Those old pieces of trash they called elders never came here at all, so you don’t need to worry.”

 

In other words, there would be no troublesome aftermath.

 

“Then you.”

 

Lee Man-deuk pointed at Han Young-won.

 

“Handle this place properly.”

 

“I told you not to worry.”

 

Han Young-won chuckled.

 

“If you’re still worried, why don’t you become one of my believers?”

 

“Shut up.”

 

Lee Man-deuk spat out the words coldly before pushing open the doors of the prayer hall.

 

Following after him, I asked,

 

“Should I give you a ride home?”

 

“No.”

 

As if planning to use teleportation magic, light began gathering around Lee Man-deuk.

 

“Aren’t you low on mana?”

 

“It’s not like a single teleport will drain me dry.”

 

“But it’ll make maintaining the magic placed on Deok-soon and Soon-deuk difficult, won’t it?”

 

At my added remark, Lee Man-deuk’s brows narrowed slightly.

 

I spoke with a smile to his openly displeased face.

 

“I’ll take you home.”

 

He pouted slightly before climbing into the car. Then he asked me,

 

“L-World’s still reserved right now, isn’t it?”

 

“Yes.”

 

The current time was 1:15 a.m.

 

Since we had rented the place for five hours starting from 9:30 p.m., we could still use L-World.

 

“Should we head to L-World?”

 

Lee Man-deuk seemed to think for a moment before leaning his head against the headrest and speaking.

 

“Forget it. Just take me home.”

 

Then he shut his eyes tightly.

 

Sitting in the driver’s seat, I quietly watched him for a moment before starting the car. It suddenly struck me how fortunate it was that I had driven here when coming to the Ark of Universal Salvation Church.

 

Because this way—

 

“CEO Kwak.”

 

“Yes, Mr. Lee Man-deuk.”

 

“Didn’t I ask you to take me home?”

 

“You did.”

 

—I was able to bring him to L-World without him noticing.

 

“To you, Mr. Lee Man-deuk, home is wherever Deok-soon and Soon-deuk are.”

 

“You…!”

 

Just as Lee Man-deuk’s face began to twist viciously—

 

“Oppa!”

 

“Hyung!”

 

A glint of light appeared in his eyes.

 

Lee Deok-soon and Lee Soon-deuk.

 

To Lee Man-deuk, they were more precious than anything else in the world—and the only family capable of saving him.