Chapter 130: The Bait Must Be Dangled to Be Tasty  (2)

Ma Do-yeong, who had been deep in thought, mustered up all his patience and asked.

"So, are you planning to transfer to the Theater Club?"

Ma Do-yeong had considered various options, like forcibly keeping Il-mok in the Meditation Club, or even clinging to him and begging him not to leave.

But both actions would undoubtedly arouse suspicion. Especially the latter, that would be something an instructor should absolutely never do.

To Ma Do-yeong's probing question, Il-mok happily took the bait.

"Nothing's set in stone yet. I'm thinking of trying out some other clubs first. If none of them suit me, I might just come back to the Meditation Club, you know?"

Faced with Il-mok’s temptation, Ma Do-yeong summoned every ounce of his composure to feign indifference.

“I understand. Ah, and separate from the club issue, it seems there has been a misunderstanding. The reason I reprimanded you was not because I have any ill will toward you. As an instructor, I can't just let a trainee slack off."

“So you’re saying nothing will change even if I return to the Meditation Club?”

"Just don't slack off and you'll be fine."

"...I'll keep that in mind when choosing a club."

“Do as you will.”

Ma Do-yeong nodded and turned to leave.

‘This should be enough to clear any suspicion, right??’

At least he acted like a proper instructor at the end.

‘They say don't lose the big picture chasing small gains. It would be foolish to get myself suspected just for a shot at glory. For now, my priority is to clear any suspicions on me.’

Watching Ma Do-yeong's retreating figure, Il-mok thought to himself.

‘Yeah, still suspicious as fuck.’

Contrary to his expectations, Ma Do-yeong had failed completely to shake off any suspicion.

***

The next day, I continued my tour of the clubs during club hours without fail. Today’s destination was the Doctrine Research Club.

To put it another way, it was the Crazy Fanatics Manufacturing Club.

"Welcome, Disciple Il-mok."

As I entered the hall, the supervising instructor and doctrine education instructor Jeong Gyu-seok greeted me warmly.

It was a weird feeling.

‘Huh. I thought he'd be pissed off?’

The trio I'd recruited for the Meditation Club originally belonged to the Doctrine Research Club.

I wasn’t sure how seriously the instructors took these clubs, but I had essentially stolen three of his members, so I thought he'd be annoyed.

But here he was, welcoming me with open arms.

‘Don't tell me this guy's another rat?’

Naturally, that suspicion popped up.

"Welcome!"

"We're glad to have you, Disciple’ Il-mok!"

But the chorus of welcomes that followed diluted that suspicion a bit.

‘What the hell, why are there so many of them?’

The hall was packed with easily more than ten students bustling about.

If those three I'd poached were still here, it would've been close to twenty people.

Considering each class only had about twenty students each, that meant nearly half were in the Doctrine Research Club.

‘If I were an instructor, I'd be relieved that three of them left.’

Even with teaching assistants, managing over ten students with just two people was exhausting work.

More importantly, with all the cadets flocking to his club, he must have been insanely jealous of the other instructors who had it easy.

‘Yeah, when you’re swamped with work and your colleagues are chilling, it’s a special kind of shitty. Yup.’

It reminded me of my civil servant days.

And the question of why so many students flocked to the Doctrine Research Club was answered as quickly as it arose.

‘Just look at Jin Hayeon...’

The disciples at the Hall of the Demonic Way were the promising talents of the Demonic Cult. And being a promising talent of the Demonic Cult was synonymous with being a wannabe religious fanatic.

So from the students’ perspective, if they didn't have any special hobbies, joining the Doctrine Research Club was the most natural thing in the world.

Weirdos like Baek Cheon and Bang Mi-hwa, who were obsessed with theater, or guys like Dokgo Pae and Mak Ho-yeol, who were into bodybuilding, were the rare kinds of exception.

And people like Ha Young, Jeong Hyeon, Ju Seo-yeon, and Gwak Sul who got dragged in by those weirdos were just the unfortunate victims.

Maybe it was because I kept getting dragged around by those weirdos and unfortunate souls.

‘How the hell is it that in a club with nearly half the students of the batch, I don't recognize a single friendly face?’

It wasn’t that I didn’t recognize anyone. I had been here for over half a year, after all. It was just that there wasn’t a single person here I was even remotely close to.

I could've felt discouraged about my social connections being limited to absolute nutjobs, but there was no need for that.

‘It’s just because those crazy bastards are the ones who latch onto me.’

A flexible tendency to blame others and a talent for mental gymnastics were the secrets to a clear and healthy mind.

"Alright, now that everyone's here, let's divide into groups. Since this is Disciple Il-mok’s first time, let’s put him with cadets he is at least acquainted with.”

"???"

I didn't quite get what was happening, but I went along with Instructor Jeong Gyu-seok's lead.

Maybe because it'd be impossible to have a conversation with everyone talking at once, Instructor Jeong Gyu-seok divided the students into three groups.

Each group had five or six people.

And the people who ended up at the same table as me welcomed me once again.

“We look forward to working with you, Disciple Il-mok.”

“We hope you have a pleasant time.”

All these friendly greetings made me smile awkwardly.

‘…I really do only know them by face.’

As per the instructor’s consideration, they were indeed people I was acquainted with. They were from the same class year, had been in the same group during an exam, or had briefly been in the Upper Class with me.

"Nice to meet you all. Please take care of me too."

Shortly after my simple greeting, Instructor Jeong Gyu-seok announced the day’s topic, and the club activities officially began.

“Today’s topic is Chapter 13, Verse 5 of the Doctrine. Please begin your discussions.”

"Well then, let me start and we'll go around in order."

One of the students in my group opened his mouth and started his speech.

"The Seventh Heavenly Demon, the Bloodthirsty Heavenly Demon, said that to truly punish evil, greater evil is necessary. Those hypocrites from Buddhism and Taoism define murder as evil, but that's just hypocrisy. Only by cutting out the seeds of evil early can we save the masses from suffering under evil."

Whether he was a hardliner obsessed with the cult's doctrine, this trainee's argument was basically "let's just kill all the bad guys." Another trainee shot his hand up and objected.

"I think you're misinterpreting the Bloodthirsty Heavenly Demon's words. While it's right to fight evil with evil, resorting to indiscriminate slaughter is a dangerous idea. As Prophet Jeong said in Chapter 3, Verse 10, all humans harbor evil in their hearts. So are you saying we should kill every single human?"

"I agree with that point. As you can see in Chapter 10, Verse 3, the Fifth Heavenly Demon, the Blood-Rain Heavenly Demon, said that ruling the world with demonic power means guiding the masses to be wary of their own evil so they don't fall into wickedness."

They'd said they'd go in order, but instead they started spouting their own opinions and creating a tense atmosphere from the start.

And this wasn't limited to just my group.

"Disciple Guk is completely misinterpreting the doctrine!"

At other tables too, they were glaring at each other and shouting like they wanted to kill each other, each spouting off their understanding of the doctrine.

"Look at Chapter 5, Verse 7 of the doctrine!"

“Silence! The Prophet said!"

Listening to all the doctrine talk coming from every direction, I felt dizzy.

It wasn't because I didn't know the content.

I had been forced by Jin Hayeon to memorize the entire doctrine to enter the Hall after all.

Every time these bastards mentioned some verse, that verse would naturally pop up in my head, that's how well I'd memorized it.

For example, the Blood-Rain Heavenly Demon that the student in my group mentioned earlier.

‘A Total psycho.’

He believed that greater demonic power should be used to prevent the masses' evil deeds, so he periodically executed evildoers in front of the masses to instill fear. To make them too scared to even think of committing evil acts.

He used the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts to tear the evildoers’ bodies to shreds, splashing blood everywhere. That’s how he came to be known as the Blood-Rain Heavenly Demon.

Even though I knew everything they were yelling about, the reason my head was spinning was simple.

It was precisely because I knew the content.

The doctrine content I'd tried to avoid since entering the Hall of the Demonic Way was filling my head again.

Looking at their faces as they debated enthusiastically, Jin Hayeon naturally came to mind.

Their eyes were filled with the same madness. They believed all truth was contained in the doctrine and were passionately spouting off about it.

Honestly, I'd studied and memorized the doctrine too, but my stance was this:

It’s just twisting words to fit the situation.

I'd listened to Jin Hayeon's explanations earnestly, but honestly, it felt like everything was forced. So rather than trying to understand it, I just memorized her explanations wholesale and moved on.

There were often cases like that.

When something happened, people would say, "See, the words of the ancient sages are never wrong."

But even among those ancient sages' words, there were quite a few contradictions.

The classic example of being "the more the merrier" versus "too much of anything is bad."

If having more of something works out, it's "the more the merrier," but if it goes wrong, it's "too much of anything is bad."

Similarly, there were definitely contradictory elements in the doctrine.

But Jin Hayeon didn't think that way at all.

If there were two contradictory verses, A and B, when event X happened, she would explain, ‘As expected, it happened according to doctrine A, therefore the doctrine is true.’ And when event Y happened, it would be, ‘As expected, it happened according to doctrine B, therefore the doctrine is true.’

It was ridiculous as hell, but I just went along with it, thinking, "So this is how cults work."

If I'd pointed it out, she might've tried to kill me for being a heretic, or wouldn't have stopped the brainwashing until I accepted it.

And here, in this room…

"Hey! Are you saying the Bloodthirsty Heavenly Demon's words are wrong?"

“That’s an exaggeration! That’s not what I meant, is it? You’re the one twisting his words to your own liking!”

These wannabe fanatics were endlessly debating doctrine, just like Jin Hayeon.

Thanks to them, I was half in a daze when…

"What do you think, Disciple Il-mok?"

"Come to think of it, Disciple Il-mok hasn't said anything yet."

The cult fanatics all focused their attention on me. Their eyes were so clear they looked like genuinely insane.

‘Uh, um… so it’s basically ‘hardliner’ versus ‘moderate,’ right?’

The hardliners wanted to kill anyone even slightly bad, while the moderates wanted to tear apart only the worst evildoers as examples to instill vigilance in the masses, since humans are inherently evil.

‘...Either way, they both want to kill people, don't they?’

These fucking insane Demonic Cult fanatics were all about killing first and questions never.

But I couldn't condemn them as crazy bastards.

They were poor souls who'd been brainwashed since childhood.

That wasn't the reason, though.

‘One wrong word and they'll turn into inquisitors...’

The madness gleaming in their eyes was no joke.

After much deliberation, I opened my mouth carefully.

"Both sides have problems. All humans are evil, so killing everyone doesn't make sense. But who defines what an ‘excessively evil person’ is? There is only one person who can make that distinction: the Heavenly Demon of the era.”

If you guys are the hardliners and moderates, then I’m the centrist.

The fanatics nodded, seemingly satisfied with my answer.

"Indeed, so everything ultimately comes down to the Supreme One's will."

“As expected of the Supreme One’s disciple. But as future talents of the cult who should aspire to leadership someday, shouldn't we establish our own standards?"

And just like that, they went back to fighting amongst themselves, passionately debating the doctrines they held most dear.

Sitting alone in a daze, watching the fanatics' war of words, I made a promise to myself.

‘...Even if I change clubs, I'm never coming back here.’

I swore I wouldn't go anywhere near the Doctrine Research Club ever again.