When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 51



Only Noblemtl

◈51. Salpuri Dance

I nodded slowly and gave my permission.

Then, Jeokun secretly poured out the thoughts he had been secretly keeping inside him.

“I wonder if there is someone within Baekmaedang who harbors malicious intent and is prescribing poison to the believers.”

“Hmm… … .”

While listening to Jeokun’s guess, I also quickly continued my deduction.

‘Did someone at Baekmaedang use a skill…? It was like an L-class skill that ‘worsened the patient’s original illness’… I don’t know what it was, but it’s definitely not a simple coincidence that so many people ended up at Baekmaedang at the same time.’

Until now, I thought the culprit was an outsider, so I only looked at the guild members’ karma points.

But now… … .

‘I should look for it in Baekmaedang too. Is there anyone with the karma points of a serial killer?’

The situation where I had no choice but to doubt my inner self was not very pleasant.

As I was sighing bitterly, I saw Cheongun coming from afar.

“Okay, I understand. I’ll take a good look at it.”

I quickly packed the materials in my arms before Cheongun saw them and started walking back home.

* * *

The time the missionary instructed us to come to the prayer center was midnight.

I was thinking of focusing on the mystery until then, but decided to close my eyes for a bit to recover my strength.

No matter how great Heukwol’s stamina is, he has been running around here and there trying to catch the culprit and has been abusing his body.

Above all, the seon-gwan said this.

-“After you wash your body thoroughly, make sure you get a good night’s sleep. If you don’t get enough rest, you might die while clearing your karma.”

After hearing that, I became a bit afraid of what I would experience in the future… but I couldn’t go back on what I had already decided to do.

Even if you ask him to step down, the officer won’t step down.

That’s why I ate enough and slept enough.

After resting like that, it was exactly midnight.

“I’m here.”

“You came.”

I greeted her at the prayer room where the messenger was waiting.

After finishing the greeting so plainly, I immediately asked.

“But you told me to rest, so I did… Is replenishing my stamina such an important part of this ritual? I thought before that it seemed like you should be the one resting, not me.”

I had previously planned to relieve my karma with the purification skill “Salpuri Dance, Hanpuri Dance” that I had used to comfort the spirits of the dead.

And the one who had the hardest time when the sage used that skill was the sage himself, the caster of the skill.

The dead were just lying still, and she was the only one dancing fervently.

The officer shook his head after hearing my question.

“Isn’t it different from that time? The dance I did that day was called ‘Hanpuri Dance.’ It was a dance to console the sorrow of the dead. However, the dance I’m doing today is called ‘Salpuri Dance.’”

“… … What’s the difference?”

“Unlike the Hanpuri dance, the Salpuri dance is a dance to get rid of the bad energy that is entangled with you… your ‘karma’. That’s why you suffer more than me. That’s the difference.”

“… … .”

The more I listen to it, the scarier it becomes.

Should I have just refused until the end?

… Before I could even think properly, the officer threw something at me.

“A sword… right?”

Before I could ask why he was throwing the sword at me, the seon-gwan explained first this time too.

“When I begin to dance the Salpuri dance, your spirit will go somewhere else. A place where material things are of no use… a place where you exist only as a spirit. There―”

As she continued speaking, she pointed at me with the end of her fan.

“You will face your karma. They say that accumulated karma will soon manifest in the form of a demon. I heard that the thicker the karma, the more powerful and terrible the demon will appear.”

“What does it mean to ‘hear’ something like that… … .”

“Yes. As the user of the skill, I cannot see it directly. Where exactly the soul of the target of the Salpuri Dance is taken and what it encounters.”

Ah, so that’s why I said before, “The spirit and I are just giving you a chance.” …

As she said, it is ultimately up to me to settle my karma.

Since only my ‘soul’, the subject, was said to have escaped to another place, the missionary had no way of knowing what was happening to me.

She added to that.

“While clearing karma, the target only appears to be asleep for a moment. However, I heard from those who successfully completed the process and woke up that they all suffered to the point of death because the devil attacked them.”

“iced coffee…….”

“They also said that no weapon would work there. The sword imbued with my divine power would be the only weapon that can be used.”

A sword that contains the power of the sage.

He held it tightly.

I felt the rough yet warm divine power filled in the sword.

“Before we begin, let me ask you one thing.”

“… … ? Yes, go ahead and ask.”

After hearing my answer, she opened her mouth quietly.

“You didn’t try to hide the fact that your previous life’s karma was heavy. You showed off your flaws. Why did you do that?”

“Well, well… that’s just the truth.”

“… … The truth as it is?”

“Yes, what good is wrapping up a stinking past in pretty silk? It will still stink. I don’t want to wrap myself up as a good guy.”

“Packing… … . Yes, it seems that you do not believe yourself to be a sage.”

I immediately responded in absurd shock.

“… … To be honest, I’m not a good person. I do have the objective perspective and conscience to make that kind of judgment.”

“Is that so? But you see, in my view, you are a good person. Regardless of your past karma or your own judgment.”

“… … .”

“So, I advise you. Be careful, so that you don’t die from being swallowed up by your own karma.”

After giving her a final warning, she activated her skill.

[The character “Seon-gwan” wants to use the skill “Salpuri Dance Hanpuri Dance” on you. Do you want to accept?]

―Yes

―No

I pressed Yes because it seemed like a skill that required consent.

Immediately the surroundings became dark.

It wasn’t just that the moonlight was obscured by clouds and darkened.

It was so dark that I couldn’t even see what was in front of me.

It was everywhere.

“Your Majesty?”

I called out to her briefly as she disappeared, but still there was no answer.

Instead, an unfamiliar message window appeared.

[Your first karma is the “karma of hiding the truth.”]

– In your past life, you were cursed by someone.

But even as the curse’s power consumed his mind, he kept that fact a secret from everyone.

They fooled people into thinking nothing happened.

In the end, no one knew what happened to you.

Until the moment when your heart is completely consumed by the curse.

So you have broken the hearts of those who trusted you, so the retribution will not be light.

The text that appeared in the message window made me blank from the first line.

‘Me in my previous life… So here we’re talking about the original Nickelus… …? That guy was cursed?’

However, this fact was kept hidden from everyone, and it was interpreted that this was one of the decisive reasons for Nickelus’s karma points being lowered.

‘By the way, it’s the first… … So does that mean there’s a second and a third?’

The thought could not continue any further.

‘Thump— thump—’ The sound of heavy footsteps echoing through the ground.

Something was walking in the darkness.

-Krrrr… … .

The first thing I saw was a creepy, glaring yellow light.

Then a huge body covered in muscles also appeared.

Troll? Or Japanese Oni?

Anyway, it was a muscular monster that looked to be about 3 meters tall.

And crucially, the monster’s mouth―

‘… … It’s sewn up.’

It was literally sewn loosely and roughly.

The karma of hiding the truth… In other words, it must be because the monster is the embodiment of the ‘karma of not telling the truth.’

[Your first karma has been realized.]

-Reward: Karma 『250』 points

My karma materialized, that monster glared at me fiercely.

Holding a crudely made thorn club.

It wasn’t hard to guess what would happen next, and I raised my sword.

-Krrrrr!!

He rushes in noisily, swinging his club.

Then, using his large size and strength, he slams down with a ‘thud!’

It was a simple pattern.

It was a fatal blow if it had hit, but that was it.

‘It’s not a difficult monster.’

I’ve caught many monsters worse than this.

Especially those nightmares I’ve faced before…

Unlike those who attacked irregularly and provoked others with strange language, the current monsters were simple to the point of being annoying.

‘Running in, then striking down from above, then putting away your weapon when you dodge, then running in again… … .’

The monster’s attack pattern was figured out in just 30 seconds.

I dodged back for a moment and waited for the guy to put his club away.

The guy swung his weapon in such a large motion that it took him quite a while to pick up the club and swing it again.

And in the meantime, the guy’s body was left completely defenseless.

[The bright moonlight shines on your weapon.]

When I used one of Black Moon’s attack skills, “Full Moon Stab,” light began to leak out from the sword.

But it was different when I wrote “Crescent Moon Cut”.

A brighter light than before was concentrated only on the tip of the sword.

I stabbed the sharp, gleaming tip of my sword into the monster’s defenseless abdomen.

Phew-

The tip of the sword dug in quietly and soon released the energy it had been holding in one go.

Inside the monster’s body.

Purbuck-!!

The shockwave spread out like a full moon and burst the monster’s body from within.

The dull leather burst and blood and internal organs were scattered… the “karma of hiding the truth” that Nickelus had accumulated.

Thud. I wiped the few dots of karma that had sprung up on my face with the back of my hand.

‘This can’t be the end… It was too easy for a human who had ruined a world.’

Judging from the system message I just received, there seemed to be a second and third karma.

In that case, the first karma I just incurred might have been relatively light.

[You have obtained 『250』 karma points through karma settlement! Your current karma is 『-2132』 points!]

After checking the system message that appeared, I nodded with satisfaction.

– Of the 2000 points, only 250 were recovered, but it was much more efficient than recovering them by completing the trust as per the standard.

What about the second karma?

When I actually saw that the points had been recovered, I felt a little bit of anticipation and my hand holding the sword tightened.

The game’s system also seemed to have read that determination.

[Your second karma is “the karma of turning a blind eye to destruction.”]

– In your past life, you had a chance to save the world.

But you have turned a blind eye to the destruction of one world and the countless people it contains.

Just to save someone precious to you.

The bitter tears of those who were sacrificed because of this have accumulated and become a poisonous poison, and you must bear that poison.

Nickelus to save his precious one?

Is this perhaps a story about Luciana…?

Anyway, from the content of the karma, an ominous feeling of foreboding welled up inside me.

This time, it didn’t seem like a crude monster like before would appear.

And ominous feelings always turn out to be useless.

-It’s vain… … .

At first I thought it was just the sound of the wind howling.

Only when I listened more closely could I tell it was a mixed voice.

―It’s fleeting… … . Have I lived just to turn into a handful of ashes… … .

It was a strange sound, like the voices of many people mixed together.

But what was truly bizarre wasn’t the voice.

‘… … What is that?’

A strange, unrecognizable mass was crawling and writhing.

Where it passed, a thick liquid remained, and the floor it touched―

Chijijik―

It oxidized and shattered, making a burning sound.

I thought that perhaps that was the ‘poisonous poison created by the accumulation of tears’ written in the message window.

In short, it was a slug-shaped monster that oozed strong acidic fluid.

[Your second karma has been materialized.]

A message like before appeared, and underneath it was written the reward you could receive for defeating the guy.

-Reward: Karma 『700』 points

All the karma points I’ve received as rewards so far have been less than 300.

Compared to that, 700 was an incomparably high point.

but-

“hmm…….”

I spat and crinkled my eyes.