The Saint Wants to Rest - Chapter 70.1
“That is excellent, Mr. Park Dong-ho. That wretched desperation to even jump into the fires of hell is very much to my liking. You have passed the first round.”
Passing by the stunned Park Dong-ho, Choi Ian turned his gaze toward Kim Cheol-su, who stood leaning on his crutches.
“Mr. Kim Cheol-su. You are a former firefighter. You mentioned jumping into dangerous places to save people. Why did you do that?”
“…I couldn’t think of anything else except that I had to save them,” Kim Cheol-su replied in a husky voice. It was a voice filled with a clumsy but heavy sincerity.
“When I see fire spreading before my eyes and I know there is a person inside, I don’t have the luxury to calculate things in my head. If you share with me that miracle capable of saving people, I will use the rest of my life for the Goddess and the world.”
“Wonderful. Mr. Kim Cheol-su, you have also passed the first round.”
Ian slowly rose from his seat. He stepped down from the podium and approached the applicants.
A massive wave, entirely different from the mana possessed by the awakened beings on Earth, began to rise from Ian’s body.
“Now then, we shall begin the final test.”
Ian’s eyes sank coldly.
“I dislike people who merely spout flowery, pleasant words. For that reason, I intend to verify from this moment on whether your resolve and venom are the real deal.”
One of the applicants, flustered by the suddenly shifted atmosphere, asked with a bewildered expression.
“Ho… how are you going to verify that?”
“You will find out soon enough. Endure, survive, and prove yourselves. If you give up here, everything is over.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than a pure white light erupted from Ian’s bracelet and swallowed the applicants whole.
When the light that filled their vision cleared, the surrounding scenery had completely changed.
“……Huh?”
“Th–-this place is.”
They were no longer in the gymnasium where they had been interviewing just moments ago, but in the middle of a collapsing building engulfed in red flames on all sides. Acrid smoke pierced their lungs, and they could vividly feel heat so intense it felt as though their skin would cook.
Grrr-!
Just then, a massive centipede type magic beast revealed itself through the flames, dripping lethal venom. At the beast’s feet, a young child was pinned under building debris, wailing and bleeding.
[Save me! Please!]
There wasn’t even time to perceive that it was an illusion. Faced with overwhelming terror and heat, three of the applicants were busy fleeing while screaming. It was the moment their most primal human instincts surfaced.
“Aaaaagh!”
Park Dong-ho let out a beast-like roar and picked up a steel pipe rolling on the floor. Toward the magic beast opening its maw to devour him, he lunged forward with eyes rolled back instead of running away. Though he had an empty body without a single drop of mana, his rage toward a past where he was unfairly trampled and his venomous desire for a miracle pushed his capacity for action to the limit.
At the same time, Kim Cheol-su threw his body frantically toward the opposite side of Park Dong-ho, who was charging the magic beast.
Burning steel frames fell over his head, but he dragged his injured leg and curled his back in a rounded shape to cover the child pinned under the rubble, as if shielding them.
‘I will save them, no matter what.’
As he endured the pain with that thought, a small sound suddenly echoed in his ears. A sharp yet clear sound, as if glass were breaking. Simultaneously, the environment surrounding them changed once more.
The flames and the magic beast vanished, and the gymnasium where they originally stood reappeared.
“Heugh, hah!”
“Uwaaaa!”
The two men opened their eyes while gasping for breath. The three applicants who had fled collapsed in the middle of the gym court, unconscious. Their entire bodies were drenched in cold sweat.
“An illusion?”
Park Dong-ho looked down at his trembling hands, but the steel pipe was nowhere to be seen.
“Excellent.”
Above their heads, a kind voice was heard.
Ian was looking down at the two of them with a satisfied smile. Park Dong-ho’s venom, which did not retreat even in the face of the terror of death, and Kim Cheol-su’s altruism, which sacrificed his own body to shield another. In the illusion created with the help of his brother, Choi Jae-heon, the two had received a perfect passing grade.
“Congratulations. You two have proven your resolve through action. As of today, you have become the first official priests of the Order of Regnasia. Please send the remaining three who fainted to the infirmary for now.”
At those words, joy bloomed on the faces of the two men. Kim Cheol-su asked in a trembling voice.
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