“You’re truly someone I can’t let my guard down around, haha.”

With those words, the sound of a chair being pulled back could be heard. Was he trying to run away? After calling me here himself?

Rukna Golden stuck her hand through the small hole in the partition and grabbed the High Priest’s wrist.

“Kyaak!” The High Priest let out a scream in a rather high-pitched voice for a man.

“What are you doing, Sister? You startled me!”

“You were just trying to run away, weren’t you?”

“I was just going to get a drink of water for a moment because my throat was dry. Why would I run away when I’m the one who called you here?”

Hearing his reasonable explanation, Rukna Golden slowly released the High Priest’s wrist.

“Jerome!”

Perhaps displeased by what just happened, the High Priest’s voice was testy as he called for the Head Priest.

Soon, the Head Priest Jerome, who had been waiting outside, entered the room and bowed his head.

“You called, Your Holiness?”

“Please escort the sister across from me to my room.”

“Understood.”

“But Jerome, did you not hear my scream just now?”

“Are you saying Your Holiness screamed while absolving a confessor of their sins?”

When Jerome widened his eyes and asked back, the High Priest tightly closed his lips before slowly opening them again.

“I was surprised that not a single priest came to check on this place even though a loud noise came from the prayer room.”

“That’s because Your Holiness has been too sensitive lately due to fasting prayers. You should eat something instead.”

“……”

“Next time, we will keep our ears perked, Your Holiness.”

“Good.”

With those final words, the High Priest left the room.

The sound of the door firmly closing was heard, and Rukna was about to hurriedly get up from her seat when–

“Ah, that darn Yorleh.”

She heard Jerome muttering, still remaining in the room.

Drrrk.

That’s when the chair Rukna was sitting on was pushed back.

“……”

A heavy silence hung in the air. Forgetting the presence of the confessor beyond the partition, Jerome, who had misspoke, tightly shut his eyes.

“It, it’s alright. This is a confessional after all. I understand.”

Rukna was the first to break the silence.

Although she couldn’t see him, she could feel the guilt the priest was facing right now, so she offered a small comfort.

“I… I cursed my superior out of frustration.”

Jerome hesitated before confessing his wrongdoing to Rukna.

He didn’t forget to refer to the High Priest as his superior to conceal his identity. Though it was already too late.

‘Is the priest giving me confession right now?’

It seemed like their positions had been reversed. As Rukna was scratching her head, another confession flowed in.

“Actually, yesterday when His Holiness entered fasting prayer, I was the one who ate fried chicken in the prayer room right next to him. I did it because I was stressed from how sensitive His Holiness gets during fasting prayer periods.”

“That… can happen.”

Rukna gave a clumsy answer and plopped back down on the chair in an awkward posture.

“The day before, I was also the one who spilled tea on the documents His Holiness signed. That was an accident while organizing. But I lied and said it was the cat’s fault.”

“Cats are cute, so it should be fine.”

“Earlier, I actually heard His Holiness’ scream but lied saying I didn’t hear it. I felt a bit exhilarated. O God! I sincerely repent of my sins. Sob sob!”

Jerome, who had only been absolving others’ sins, wept as he unloaded his pent-up feelings.

Then he suddenly stretched his hand out towards Rukna through the round hole.

Rukna blankly stared down at Jerome’s hand. Was it his way of asking for comfort?

“Why aren’t you saying you absolve my sins? Will you not forgive me? Am I a sinner deserving of punishment?”

“I, I absolve you of your sins.”

“You have to recite it three times, sob.”

“I absolve you of your sins. I absolve you of your sins. I absolve you of your sins…?”

“Sob, well done. Now tap my hand three times with a sincere heart.”

Hey now. Isn’t that asking for too much?

“Please hurry.”

Rukna, who had come to meet the High Priest but suddenly ended up absolving the Head Priest’s sins, couldn’t bring herself to ignore his hand and tapped it gently.

She had to tap it one more time because he said one of them didn’t feel sincere enough.

‘Is this right?’

She had a premonition that today was going to be a tiring day.

Arriving at the High Priest’s room, Rukna sat in front of the tea table.

On the small, round table made of wooden boards were sweet snacks and grain tea brought by the believers.

The High Priest sat across from Rukna, keeping a safe distance as if maintaining personal space.

The only food on his personal table was one boiled sweet potato and two egg whites.

‘I want to get angry, but I can’t bring myself to.’

Just as a poor tribe would open their storehouse to treat a welcome guest to a feast, there was a big difference between the High Priest and Rukna’s tea tables.

“Shall I give you some of this?”

When Rukna handed him a madeleine, the High Priest waved both hands.

“I’m not eating because I’m fasting for prayer.”

Having said that, he gobbled up the egg in front of him.

“…I see.”

Strangely, her heart felt stingy yet doubtful.

Isn’t fasting supposed to be starving oneself? That looks more like a diet meal.

“Getting to the point, I brought your soul, which had been flung into another world, back to its original world.”

The High Priest spoke while glaring at the madeleine placed in front of her.

Discussing such an important matter in that way. It was so natural that she almost handed the madeleine to the High Priest.

“Brought it back?”

“Your soul originally belonged to this world after all.”

“…Does that even make sense? No, let’s say it does. Why did you have to become Bread Man to resolve it?”

“Ertha humans are wary, but they kindly open the door to delivery men.”

Ertha. He must be referring to Earth. It’s also true that people welcome deliveries.

“I could only interfere with you if you opened the door.”

The High Priest explained that the act of opening the door may seem trivial, but it actually holds great significance.

So he added that directly opening the door to an unverified person is one of the taboos in the temple.

“Of course, there were other ways to transfer a soul.”

“Was it by any chance a reincarnation truck?”

“That’s right. By colliding with a very large and fast object, the body and soul can be separated. However, I didn’t attempt that method because the Possessed Association had issues with it regarding human rights.”

“Is there really a Possessed Association?”

“Think about it, Sister. In this vast universe, do you think there are only one or two misdelivered souls? They must have an organization too.”

Then how do you join that organization? Rukna was greatly astonished and at the same time, she was ready to join immediately if possible.

However, the High Priest cut off her curiosity, saying he would tell her everything once she became a priest.

“So beings like Your Holiness cross over to the world I lived in, collect lost souls like returned packages, and put them back in their place?”

“It was my new idea. Wasn’t it quite good?”

The High Priest smiled broadly and tilted his head to the side.

The motion of brushing his hair behind his ear as it fell to the side looked like a dance move.

The sharp jawline revealed underneath further accentuated the High Priest’s sacred beauty.

‘I guess there’s merit to fasting prayer with looks like that.’

However, Rukna’s eyes were glued to the ceiling from looking at Matian Wiegratz, so she brushed off his charm nonchalantly.

“Then is the me in that world truly dead? Is there no way to go back?”

Taken aback for a moment by the natural change of topic, the High Priest straightened his tilted head and corrected his posture.

“Even if this was your original world, do you want to return there?”

“Of course, naturally…!”

Huh? The words didn’t come out fully.

According to the prophecy book, this world was destined for destruction.

Of course, the situation had started to twist due to her intervention, but she could live in a world where safety was guaranteed if she returned to being Kim Ha-young.

But why couldn’t she say she wanted to go back?

The High Priest, who had been intently watching Rukna hesitate, tapped the teacup.

“I’m not telling you to go back as a corpse. I’m saying I can turn you back to before you died.”

He explained that God wove all these universes with very fine threads, and those threads were intertwined with space and time.

“When we cross over to another universe, we have to untie the knots of space-time. If you find the knot right before overworking to death, you can return to your previous life.”

“How do you find and untie those knots?”

“You just need to obtain qualifications like me. Then…”

The High Priest stretched out his hand.

Then, a yellow light appeared on his palm, and an old net needle made of carved jade appeared.

“Using this, you can go to other worlds. I’ll tell you how to obtain the qualifications once you become a member of the temple. Since you are of Saint Closet’s bloodline, you’ll likely have an aptitude for it.”

The High Priest persuaded Rukna to become a priest and put his hand down.

The translucent key disappeared into his grasp.

“How much is a priest’s salary?”

Rukna asked a practical question while staring at the High Priest’s bare tea table.

I heard those from military academies earn a lot. Would it be similar for priests?

“My, my, the world isn’t all about money, Sister!”

No, why are you suddenly raising your voice?

“Our temple is filling this barren world with the Creator’s love.”

Seeing the High Priest suddenly emphasizing love, Rukna tilted her head.

“Then I suppose your annual salary is also full of love.”

“That was a long preamble.”

“Pardon?”

“Then shall we awaken your latent divine power?”

“You seem to be abruptly changing the subject.”

“Being a High Priest is such a busy position, you see.”

The High Priest sprang up from his seat and approached Rukna.

As he bent over like that, his face came close to Rukna’s.

Isn’t that too close? Rukna swallowed her dry saliva.

Her startled heart pounded, but the scent of frankincense emanating from him had a calming effect.

The High Priest quietly looked into Rukna’s subtle reactions and pointed to his own eyes.

“Will you gaze into my eyes?”