After the “No Good Three Siblings” were expelled from the meeting room.
Fortunately, the meeting that had briefly stumbled began to proceed smoothly.
Well, it was only natural since only calm and rational people were left. Plus, there were only three of them.
“Then, for the first agenda item, let’s discuss how we should fate our Order moving forward.”
After significant twists and turns, the meeting topic that emerged was a discussion about the Order itself.
Now that it had been almost three months since their return, it was about time to check if everything was alright as it was.
“Seo-yoon, please provide us with the status of the lay members that you’ve gathered.”
“Got it.”
Seo-yoon looked at the laptop on the table and began her briefing.
“First of all, there have been a total of 51 lay members who have joined the Order so far.”
“That’s not a lot, is it?”
Hainha nodded in agreement with Seo-yoon’s comment.
“Since there’s a sponsorship requirement of 500,000 won to join. You can also join by subscribing for six months on Tribe, but that option isn’t available yet.”
“It seems like the conditions are a bit too strict.”
This time, the sharp gaze of the National Intelligence Service agent turned toward me.
It was the same serious look and atmosphere as when we first met. I could tell they were determined to do things properly this time.
While their intensity was quite sharp, I wasn’t fazed enough to be intimidated as the Pope.
I calmly met Hainha’s gaze and spoke serenely.
“There’s no other choice. If we accept anyone blindly, impurities will mix in. I’ve already experienced this in that world.”
When I first became the Pope, I accepted everyone who wanted to join the Order.
As a result, I had to endure considerable hardships due to the meddling and scheming of heretics with ulterior motives and dark sorcerers for quite a while.
“I almost resigned the moment I became Pope. If the Goddess hadn’t been on my side, I would probably be serving as ‘just Bishop Eluke’ by now.”
“I see…”
“However, thanks to paying a steep price for my mistakes, I’ve gained a lesson: The door to join should not be open to just anyone.”
Anyone can worship and praise the Sun, and I have no intention of preventing that.
However, in order to formally join our Order and become a priest or nun, I’ve amended our regulations to include some form of test.
Initially, this raised several concerns, but it ended up being a quite successful attempt. Even with restrictions in place, there were many who still wanted to join.
Having heard about my past failures and successes, Hainha clasped their hands under their chin and spoke.
“So the sponsorship requirement to join is a sort of test, then?”
“To be precise, it’s setting up a filter before the actual test.”
I wasn’t just trying to flaunt my wealth openly on the broadcast for no reason.
During my time as Pope, I devoted myself to cultivating a good and humble image. It was to discern those sincerely wishing to join our Order.
Although I did acquire some unwanted images during that process…
At this point, there were hardly any who saw me as a greedy or corrupt religious figure.
Sometimes I might act childish, but I remained a devout and noble Pope.
That was the objective evaluation of me.
Since I was somewhat concerned that it might be a misconception, I once mentioned this on a broadcast, but there were no dissenting viewers.
“But they do protest that I’m childish not sometimes, but always.”
That was just a playful jab as it usually was, so it could be ignored.
The important thing was that my initial intention of maintaining a benevolent and principled image had been successfully upheld.
And while it wasn’t intended, the slander from the Burning Association contributed to portraying me as a person of integrity.
Now I had become a Pope who was tragically noble and unfortunate due to circumstances.
… As long as the fact that I had taken revenge directly against Haoran in secret remained unknown, I could continue to maintain that image.
“So with all that activity, there must be some who genuinely want to join without ill intent. Are we starting the tests soon?”
My clever sibling summarized my point and voiced what I wanted to say. I gave them a thumbs up in appreciation.
“That’s exactly right. I plan to periodically conduct the ‘Sacred Power Assessment’ soon. We’ll shorten it to ‘SPA’ for convenience.”
“Um….”
“Ah….”
The reactions from the two women to the term “SPA” weren’t exactly enthusiastic, but I decided to push on with my convictions.
“Seo-yoon, what are you doing? Hurry up and write this down.”
“Okay.”
Thus, the discussion regarding the first agenda item was wrapped up.
“Then, without a break, let’s move on to the next topic.”
Next, I intended to discuss a subject that closely related to what we had already addressed.
“The second agenda item is ‘Recruitment of Talents.'”
“Recruitment? Didn’t you say that admission is through a test?”
“That’s for the lay members. What I’m referring to is the shortage of staff members.”
“… That’s true.”
Seo-yoon chuckled softly, glancing around at the participants in the meeting.
Just three of them.
Even including the expelled three siblings, there were only six. Compared to the nearly twenty participants in the meetings from that world, it was an absurdly small number.
“What’s especially regrettable is the lack of priests. There’s no seasoned lay member qualified to be the Archbishop.”
The highest-ranking Holy Knight could be assigned to Zhang Yao since strength was the deciding factor.
But the Archbishop was different.
It was a position only a highly experienced priest with vast Sacred Power could hold. Given that it directly assisted the Pope, it needed to be selected with great care.
“The titular position of Grand Archbishop isn’t essential, but the Archbishop is urgent.”
“Can’t we assign it to Jun-seok Hwang?”
“Jun-seok…?”
Who was that again?
After thinking for a moment, I finally recalled.
“Oh, you mean ‘I Want to Get a Job.'”
The first viewer of my broadcast and the first priest of the Order.
Even though he received blessings from the Goddess, he wasn’t brought into the Sun Meeting simply because he was just a priest. My sibling’s opinion that he was untrustworthy compared to Kim Yi-jeong influenced that decision, too.
“That seems a bit…”
When Jun-seok Hwang was brought up, Seo-yoon immediately reacted as if she was waiting for that moment.
Anyone would think it was a fierce enemy reaction. She disliked him so much that Hainha stopped insisting on placing “I Want to Get a Job” in the Archbishop position.
Instead, she raised a reasonable point.
“For now, since we have no way to bring him in, we should leave the position vacant for the time being. Anyway, it will not be a huge inconvenience since either Manager Seo-yoon or I are assisting at the moment.”
That was such a valid point that I couldn’t think of a rebuttal.
So, I merely nodded in agreement to display the Pope’s prestige. This way, my subordinates would interpret my intent and cover it up.
This strategy had been useful in the past, and once again, it was working well.
“So you’re saying there isn’t anything that needs amending to the agent’s statement? Got it. I’ll write that down too.”
Seo-yoon interpreted my intent and followed it through. That was a desirable stance.
I took a moment to gather my thoughts while listening to the sound of my clever manager typing away.
A little later.
Once Seo-yoon finished inputting, she looked up at me.
“What’s the next agenda item?”
“The next one is… a bit serious.”
Until now, we had mainly covered the operation of the Order moving forward.
The actual crux of the matter was about to begin.
“Please don’t be too shocked. A disaster that might bring about the end of the world could occur soon.”
“……”
Silence.
The once noisy meeting room fell into deep silence. The sound of insects chirping outside was distinctly audible.
Breaking the prolonged silence was my manager, who had an astonished expression.
“What do you mean by disaster? What does that imply?”
“It’s not like there’s a hidden meaning. I’m simply saying that the world might be in danger.”
I shared what Hao-ran had said to me earlier without withholding anything.
Soon, Hainha, who listened quietly, sent me a suspicious glance.
“Your Holiness? You seem to know quite a bit, almost as if you heard it yourself.”
“……”
I had thought I was hiding it well, but it seemed I underestimated the detective skills of a National Intelligence Service agent.
However, I had prepared a justification in advance, so there was no real problem.
“I thought you’d be aware since you’re part of the agency. Erin from ‘Wise Erin TV’ is my former ally from the hero party.”
“… That makes things more complicated. So does that mean people from another world are operating without government authorization? By the way, harboring unregistered beings from another world could lead to punishment.”
I mean, what’s so wrong that it warrants punishment?
I flinched for a moment, but the Pope couldn’t be intimidated by such a trivial matter. I maintained my long-standing calm disposition and replied.
“Harboring? We’ve just been too busy dealing with the Burning Association recently to find the time to report. You know that, right?”
“… I understand.”
‘The Shield of Haoran’ successfully got me off the hook. I was relieved and started speaking again.
“Let’s set aside the story about my allies for later, and now let’s discuss the ‘Black Sun.'”
It was time to engage in discussions about the future emergency that might come at any moment.
*
In the rest area, one floor below the meeting room.
The trio expelled from the start were eavesdropping on the meeting, focusing their hearing.
Not that they were particularly enthusiastic about it.
“It’s boring.”
“Agreed.”
Liam and Hekatrith were playing a board game in the rest area to pass time while feeling rather dull.
Munch munch.
Zhang Yao was quietly munching on hot dogs beside them. That made it the tenth one already.
‘That’s an awful lot he’s eating.’
The pretty-returned Hekatrith looked at him with a mix of disbelief and nausea. Eventually, she flopped down on her back. Everything felt tiresome.
She felt like she was wasting time by following them for no reason. It would have been much more enjoyable to watch iTube videos during this time.
Annoyed for no reason, she thumped her tail against the floor.
It was then that Eluke from the meeting room mentioned something ominous.
“The Black Sun symbol is recognized in our Order as a symbol of disaster. It’s also referred to as the embodiment of destruction.”
Both Liam and Zhang Yao reacted simultaneously to that statement.
“……”
The former hero wore a strange expression.
“That guy without a father is just dreaming.”
The returnee, who had been exploited by Hao-ran, muttered coldly.
Meanwhile,
Hekatrith, who had been lying among them, felt a chill run through her scales.
‘… Black Sun?’
She knew it.
No, she had realized it.
During her time as an Evil Dragon, Hekatrith had discovered an alternate timeline that differed from the countless futures she could foresee.
The only uncertain possibility where the outcome was not clear.
And before she could observe that future, Hekatrith had a dream. The voice she heard back then was still vivid.
-“Move towards the future I have bestowed upon you.”
An extremely dark and extremely hot voice of some woman.
The owner of that voice was clearly….
‘That was the Black Sun, wasn’t it?’
At this point, Hekatrith could roughly grasp the flow of events.
The situation didn’t look too bad.
‘So you’re planning to gather all the mean-spirited folks for a sizzling dance party!’
Naturally, it was a completely misguided assumption.
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