How the Cult Saves the World

I ran endlessly through the darkness. I had to keep running through pitch-black darkness where I couldn't see an inch ahead. How long had I been running like that?

I realized that despite running for so long, my body hadn't tired. Only then did I notice that all of this was a dream.

'Again...'

When had it started? I kept having these "dreams" where my consciousness was awake. Right now there was nothing visible to me, but I knew.

That soon this darkness would clear and new scenes would appear. And that expectation of mine soon manifested into reality.

'This is...'

And then, what appeared before my eyes was the life of a single man. A man born frail from birth, who had been protected from everything by his family.

'Revelof Holden...'

Although these were memories already inside my head, it felt as though I had personally stepped inside a film and was experiencing it vividly.

Revelof Holden's life passed quickly. Frail and longing to go outside, he always resented his own body.

Why was his body born so weak? Why couldn't he live an ordinary life like others?

As the second son of the Holden family he had much — so why was the simple ordinariness that others had something he could never possess?

And in the end, Revelof Holden made a decision. That he would no longer continue this kind of life. And at last he departed from his own life.

'...'

Immediately after experiencing Revelof Holden's life, like that of a tragedy — I stepped into another life. And that life was my own.

Not Revelof Holden's life, but the life of "Jeong Ji-hyun."

It began with a me from a childhood I could barely remember. A very small Jeong Ji-hyun was crouching alone, in a place set apart from other people.

'...That is...'

I couldn't say exactly when that was. Only that the child was alone, and wasn't crying. After that, Jeong Ji-hyun grew up quickly.

In the image of myself I saw there, my expressions didn't change much. And I was consistently alone. Because ever since I lost my family when I was very young, I had always been alone.

That's right. When I was still a child, the fact that I was alone had made me achingly lonely.

Throughout school I had been bullied continually for being young and poor, and I thought life had no meaning. Though that carried on into adulthood as well.

'Because I was always alone.'

But as time passed, I was gradually able to accept that as normal. Because it had been that way from the start.

And the ordinary longing I had in my heart — to have a family — gradually faded away amid the passage of time.

Then at some point, I entered this world.

'Revelof Holden.'

And then, something I had never seen before came into my vision. Seeing life return to the body of Revelof Holden, who had been lifeless.

'That is... the moment when I possessed him?'

Immediately after that, Revelof Holden changed. Because "Jeong Ji-hyun" was going to live Revelof Holden's life from then on. The scenes that followed were all things I already knew well.

They were all things I had done, results created by my own actions.

And then, at some point, darkness descended again.

"Hah—!"

And when I opened my eyes — only then did I wake from the dream. I jolted upright, wiping the cold sweat running down my forehead.

What had I dreamed? Or rather — could what I had just experienced truly be called a simple dream? I rubbed my face with dry hands. In that dream until just a moment ago, I had watched the chronicles of two figures from "afar."

One was me — Jeong Ji-hyun — and the other was Revelof Holden.

'But why...'

Upon waking, I felt a strange sensation. As if the dream I had just dreamed was a past that I had genuinely lived. That would have been perfectly natural if it had been Jeong Ji-hyun's life alone — but...

'Not merely my previous life, Jeong Ji-hyun's life...'

But even the past of Revelof Holden, which existed only as memories to me and which I had never truly known — all of it.

"Haa."

I let out a breath as my breath still heaved, and recalled the dream I had just had. I still couldn't understand what had happened.

'What's more.'

The strange thing wasn't only today's dream. Lately — no, for quite a while now — I had occasionally dreamed based on the genuine Revelof Holden's memories. And mostly they were scenes I didn't remember.

'Why...'

I couldn't pinpoint the exact reason, but a sudden feeling came over me.

As if someone were trying to tell me something.

After having that inexplicable dream, I was unable to go back to sleep. So I simply moved quickly to execute the schedule I had planned for the day.

'It'll be time to meet with Terdius soon anyway.'

And so, after finishing a brief bit of paperwork, I quickly got ready to go out.

"Alphi, I told you I'd be away for a few days, right?"

[Yes, Church Leader! Please go without worry!]

"Right, thank you."

After finishing my preparations, I left a word with Alphius. Then I went out of the temple.

The dark hour before dawn had yet to break. The streets of Rovel were sparse of people.

"I prepared the horses."

And from within that darkness, Terdius appeared. Beside him were two horses prepared in advance.

"Thank you, Brother."

I thanked him and mounted the horse. We could have simply run there ourselves, both Terdius and I, but since the distance was more than expected, it wasn't worth the needless waste of stamina.

At times like these I did miss Troy's absence...

Clip-clop—

After passing the borders of Holden territory, Terdius asked me.

"So where can we find this 'aide'?"

"The village of 'Flora,' near the imperial capital."

"I've been there before. I know a shortcut, so follow close."

Terdius immediately gripped the reins and steered his horse with practiced ease. Just as he said, I followed behind.

'I know the road well enough myself — but for a shortcut... it's better to leave it to Terdius.'

Since I had never visited Flora myself. And so I quietly followed behind Terdius.

—You seem particularly out of sorts today.

While I was riding hard. Kyros's voice came to me — having been gone since yesterday, he'd only just reappeared. He seemed to have checked my face the moment he arrived.

'Do I look that bad?'

—Yes. Was there something that happened before you departed?

'No, nothing like that. I just had a dream.'

—A dream? You must have had a nightmare.

'It wasn't quite a nightmare. But it's a dream that left me confused.'

—Confused? Why is that?

I thought for a moment about whether to tell Kyros this. Then I slowly spoke. After all, Kyros already knew that I was the one who had possessed Revelof Holden's body.

'It's just... both my previous life and my current life have left me confused.'

—Tell me more.

'How to put it. It's not just recently — for quite a while I've occasionally had dreams based on the genuine Revelof Holden's memories. Of course, not scenes I possessed in my memories, but scenes I hadn't remembered. And so at times I would be engulfed in the feeling that I had become the real Revelof Holden.'

—Yes. I can understand that.

'Yes. And today I had another similar kind of dream. But...'

—But?

'The real Revelof's life and my previous self's image were depicted, and it felt like I was watching them in sequence. Revelof Holden's passing, the life of mine that continued after that, and then me coming to this world and becoming Revelof Holden.'

—That is a curious story. I knew you had a previous life... but.

'Because until now I never talked about it in this much detail with you, Lord Kyros. But the reason I'm speaking of it now is simply that I... don't know how to make sense of this dream.'

—Why is that?

'It felt as if today's dream was someone revealing a hidden truth to me.'

—Is that so?

'Yes. And from that truth... I even arrived at the conjecture that perhaps I might truly be the real Revelof Holden.'

—And so you're confused.

'Naturally. If there was a life I didn't know about... and...'

Everything I had thought of as merely inside a game — if in fact this world was one that I had truly lived in, that was a strange thought to have.

'Of course, this is all just my conjecture.'

Whether this conjecture was true or not, it was leaving me confused.

—If that conjecture were true?

'If it were true... I'd be quite a bit startled, but I'd accept it.'

And I would uncover the truth of this world.

'But for now, I won't think about it. I have far too many things already given to me.'

Uncovering the truth about myself, and finding out whether this dream was just a nonsensical dream or not — neither was important at the moment.

—That's right, child. You have much to do.

'Yes. So... I'm going to resolve the matter right in front of me first. If I let other thoughts get in the way, I might ruin everything.'

—Whenever you have worries, tell me. I'll listen, just like now.

'Yes. Thank you, Lord Kyros.'

Talking to Kyros didn't immediately resolve my worries. But it was like a weight lifting off my chest — my mind felt somewhat sorted.

'At this point, things like what my true identity is, or why I came to possess this world — those don't matter much.'

I had already adapted to this world as Revelof Holden and was doing everything I could to survive.

What mattered was surviving, first and foremost. Everything else was secondary.

'So... the confusion ends here.'

After the conversation with Kyros and getting my thoughts in order, I had arrived at the village of ‘Flora’ in no time.

"We've arrived."

"Let's get settled first."

After getting off the horses, I reminded Terdius to pull up his hood once again. In case we unnecessarily gave away our identities to people around us.

Then we entered the village.

"So where is this person?"

"This way."

I led Terdius into the depths of the village. There were quite a few village residents there, as there were many restaurants and taverns.

Among those, the place I walked toward was the one that looked the most run-down on the outside but was packed with customers on the inside — a tavern.

Creak—

When I opened the old wooden door and stepped inside, the sound of people's conversations rang loudly.

Among them there were several others wearing robes and hoods like us.

I walked into the tavern packed with people. And then.

'Found them.'

I spotted the Emperor's aide we were to rendezvous with.

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