“That’s it for today’s broadcast. See you next time.”
I waved my hand, wrapping up the show.
As much as I wanted to continue, the atmosphere was too chaotic, all thanks to ‘Lorenaur,’ who was presumed to be Kim Yi-jeong’s secondary character.
The chat window was filled with comments blasting the attention-seeker who ruined the show.
– Ugh, what a loser
– I wanna beat him up
– What an idiot
– Damn it
– A job seeker would be better
– A real job seeker was a goddess
It was the first time the viewers were this riled up. They were so furious that they even resorted to cursing, which was quite rare.
On the other hand, Kelaout was more concerned about me than any attention-grabber.
“Is it alright if we wrap up, Your Holiness? I’m fine if we keep going.”
“It’s all good.”
We had nearly finished the interview, and we had enough footage to upload to iTube, so it wasn’t a big deal.
To be honest, I wanted to have the Archbishop play a game next time, but I decided to save that for later.
“Everyone, search ‘Your Holiness’ on iTube, and as you admire my beauty, your anger will subside. I mean, aren’t I just stunning?”
I ended the broadcast with a touch of self-praise.
It was a subtle way to convey that I wasn’t bothered, so they shouldn’t be too angry.
Whether my tactic worked or not, after the broadcast, the remaining viewers in the chat seemed to giggle and laugh. The atmosphere had calmed down considerably.
Feeling more relaxed, I took a light sigh and glanced at Kelaout’s expression.
He wore a grim face, deep in thought. He looked like an old man who could be even more intimidating if he stayed silent.
“Archbishop Kelaout?”
“Oh, yes.”
Only after I called his name did the old man turn his gaze toward me, slowly stroking his beard.
After a pause, Kelaout quietly spoke.
“Your Holiness, something doesn’t feel right.”
“What’s wrong? Is it because of what I said earlier?”
“Look forward to tonight, he said with a smirk.”
That was the parting line left by ‘Lorenaur’ before getting banned. It was too significant to simply brush off.
But what could he really do? He wasn’t a returnee anyway.
An ordinary person with no power could do little more than send malicious emails or leave nasty comments on iTube.
“Don’t worry about it. You’re well aware, Archbishop, that there are more people than you think who intentionally do bad things just to ruin someone else’s mood.”
There were certainly attention-seekers in that world, most of whom were dark magicians.
They couldn’t be satisfied with ordinary magical research and ultimately fell into wicked paths. Most of them became malicious and ferocious due to contaminated mana and poison.
I used “most” because some of them were just plain rotten from the start.
“That person from earlier is not much different from a dark magician. They easily trample on others for their own benefit or pleasure. But unlike dark magicians, they’re ordinary people, so we have no choice but to ignore them.”
Unlike that world, we had the beautiful law of complaints here, but the nature of the crimes was too ambiguous to report, so we could only endure.
They had likely calculated all the way up to this point when they sponsored the show.
‘Kim Yi-jeong…’
It wasn’t certain, but it was likely the doing of Kim Yi-jeong, the external affairs rep.
I had a hunch something was off ever since he easily stopped Liam as he rushed toward America, but I hadn’t expected him to be that crazy.
What on earth was he up to? It just didn’t add up.
Kim Yi-jeong had passed the document review process that I personally conducted.
So theoretically, he couldn’t be trash. I had used the Sacred Spell ‘Eye of Purity’ to check his character.
But what had happened in reality? He had just committed an act based on malice. It was clearly the deed of someone with a rotten character.
‘…This is strange.’
The more I thought about it, the more I agreed with the Archbishop that something felt off.
Could it be that ‘Lorenaur’ wasn’t Kim Yi-jeong’s secondary character? It could just be a remarkable coincidence.
It seemed I would need to confront him directly to get to the bottom of this.
“Archbishop, allow me to take action.”
First, I needed to pin down Kim Yi-jeong’s location. That was Liam’s specialty.
But ironically, he wasn’t around now.
Liam had yet to return to avoid Kelaout’s tiresome sermon, and there were no signs he would be back anytime soon.
He wasn’t some kid having a tantrum; he could have just put up with the boring sermon.
I whispered to myself, vowing to give that rascal a personal scolding later.
“Liam, where are you?”
Our minds were continuously connected through magic and Sacred Spells.
It was a precaution, a setup we arranged after the lengthy negotiations we had, just in case we got separated and couldn’t communicate.
Now we could talk without resorting to additional means. The former hero didn’t have a personal phone, so this was the only way to reach him.
“…”
But why? There was no response.
Thinking maybe he didn’t hear me, I called again and waited, but still, no loud voice came back.
“Liam…?”
A sense of unease was creeping in. It was even more worrying that Liam, who normally responds promptly when I reach out, was being so silent.
And then, it hit me.
A suddenly ominous possibility crossed my mind.
No way, that can’t be, it’s absurd.
Trying to shake off those negative thoughts, I pulled out my smartphone.
I thought about calling Seo-yoon. Liam had dropped her off at home yesterday, so she might know something.
But.
Once again, I struck out.
– Connection failed, beep followed by voice message…
I tried calling several times, but Seo-yoon never picked up. At this point, I couldn’t turn a blind eye to the truth any longer.
It felt impossible, but there was only one answer.
Liam and Seo-yoon had been kidnapped.
“…Archbishop.”
“Your Holiness. I have a rough idea of what’s going on.”
Kelaout, who had kept silent beside me, slowly rose to his feet, forming a monocle of Sacred Power over his left eye.
“That’s why I said it didn’t feel right. That person must have done something.”
“But only I can use special powers in this country.”
Realistically, Kim Yi-jeong couldn’t be the culprit behind Liam’s abduction. I was the only returnee in Korea.
“And even if we assume the other party is also a returnee, there’s still a problem.”
“Liam. Can anyone easily overpower that guy?”
“Yes.”
Seo-yoon was defenseless as a regular person, so that was understandable, but Liam had been taken too. The former hero, a demigod-level figure.
Even if there had been many returnees in our country, this was simply impossible.
Especially since when the immortal Haoran reached that level, he wouldn’t have stood a chance against him, so who on earth could have kidnapped Liam?
“No, it’s not entirely impossible.”
At that moment, Kelaout calmly fixed his gaze on me.
That look was all too familiar.
Back when I was a rookie Pope, that same gaze had soothed me and offered solutions whenever a big problem arose.
“Sir High-ranking Holy Knight.”
Kelaout called out to the rookie holy knight outside. When Yao nervously opened the door and stepped inside, a solid voice followed.
“You can manipulate the unique powers of another world, correct?”
“Well, yes.”
Caught off guard by the sudden question, Yao was momentarily taken aback but faithfully answered.
“In my world, we called it ‘Alternate Ability.’ Simply put, it’s a natural phenomenon caused by humans. It’s a higher power than the magic wielded by psychics… The Pope mentioned it was higher-level power.”
“I see.”
The Archbishop nodded while meeting my gaze again.
“Your Holiness. It seems that Liam has fallen victim to some otherworldly special powers, which might be this ‘Alternate Ability.'”
“A powerhouse like Liam, you say?”
“That guy is powerful in brute strength, but more importantly, his confidence is top-notch. He probably faced whatever came at him head-on with an attitude of ‘Go ahead, give it a try.'”
So all this chaos stemmed from his infuriating arrogance? Was that even logical?
No matter how bold he was, in front of something he had never seen before, he would be as cautious as possible…
Whoosh.
I shook my head, realizing Liam wouldn’t back down easily in the presence of some mysterious phenomenon.
“Archbishop, what should we do now?”
I instinctively sought the Archbishop’s opinion. It was a habit formed from my long tenure as a Pope.
As always, Kelaout calmly analyzed the situation and reported back.
“Don’t worry too much. I doubt he’s dead yet. It’s not in Liam’s character to be completely overpowered.”
“That may be true, but…”
“Don’t worry. The method of abduction is complex, but fortunately, the solution seems straightforward.”
With a confident grin, Kelaout bowed graciously.
“This Archbishop Kelaout will take full responsibility for bringing back Liam and your sibling, your Holiness.”
“……”
I quietly observed the bowed head of the Archbishop before placing my hand on top of it.
“Safe travels.”
I had confidence in the Archbishop’s abilities.
I issued the order without hesitation.
“Please come back safe.”
“Rest assured.”
Soon, standing upright, Kelaout strode out of the room.
I quietly watched his departing figure before gently patting Yao’s back.
“Yao, let’s go. We need to prepare.”
“Prepare? For what?”
“The enemy is likely targeting this side as well. No, they probably split Liam away from us to target us.”
The cunning decision to deal with the remaining personnel by excluding Liam, the strongest among us. It was a clever move.
Moreover, the timing of dropping Seo-yoon off meant that they had been keeping a close watch on our Order.
Or it could be the work of someone who knew all the inside information.
It seemed more likely that it was the latter.
“Yao, please express my disdain for Kim Yi-jeong on my behalf.”
“……?”
“I can’t bring myself to do it.”
“Hmmm, Kim Yi-jeong, that trash whose parents probably weren’t around?”
“Good job.”
Our top-ranking holy knight had one more task now. I squeezed Yao’s capable shoulder before moving.
“Whatever their objective is, let them regret targeting me.”
I wasn’t going to let them off the hook.
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