Chapter 165 – Jeffrey Bishop
Jeffrey Bishop, who grew up in an ordinary family, became an orphan at eleven.
It was because he lost his parents in a shooting incident caused by a deranged neighbor.
With no relatives, he drifted from place to place homeless, suffering extreme stress at the age when puberty was supposed to come.
He lost the will to live, and he kept dragging out a life he couldn’t even end by snatching the leftovers that customers had left behind at shops.
There is no god in this world.
He thought it was God’s fault for taking his parents away.
He thought it was because this world wasn’t perfect.
Furious at God, he went to the most famous synagogue in the area and demanded answers.
“Why do I have to suffer like this? Why did God have to take my parents, of all people?”
To the boy’s grief-soaked question, the clergyman Nathan’s answer was clear.
“We are people who believe God is right. How could I know God’s will? If you truly want to know, then you should meet God yourself and demand answers.”
It was a dumbfounding thing to say, but Jeffrey kept turning over that last line in his head.
He told me to demand answers from God? If I’m curious, I should ask Him myself?
He was curious.
What kind of answer God would give.
It felt like he’d found a path in a vast, trackless sea.
From that day on, Jeffrey took refuge at the synagogue.
He received teachings under Nathan and studied scripture.
He devoured God’s will and hoped to meet God.
I’ll meet God no matter what, and I’ll ask.
For the first time, stubborn defiance took root in his life.
He kept living, using rage as fuel.
In that process, Nathan—who raised him and looked after him—became his father, his teacher, and the signpost of his life.
That was why, even now at twenty-eight, Jeffrey obeyed his orders absolutely.
Because he’d received a debt of kindness he could never repay in his lifetime.
And that was why he treated Nathan’s daughter, Christine, with the utmost respect as well.
But the human heart was truly treacherous.
Was it because life had gotten easier?
Christine, whom he’d watched for over seventeen years, suddenly started to look like a woman to him one day.
I can’t do this. I can’t do this…
He blamed himself, even slapped himself across the face, but he couldn’t help his feelings.
He only buried them deep, deep inside.
I can never let it show that I like Christine. It’s a betrayal of Nathan, who’s basically my father.
Even after angels appeared and the world became this way, Jeffrey kept his unrequited love hidden.
And it was the same even now, as he received orders from Nathan.
“Christine says she’s going to Korea this time to meet her fiancé. I said I’d send Jeffrey with her, but she firmly refused, saying that wouldn’t be necessary.”
“Perhaps she thought it would be uncomfortable if I inserted myself between the two of them.”
“Do you think I don’t know my own daughter? In your eyes, does Christine look like she likes her fiancé? She isn’t going to meet her fiancé. She’s going because she wants to meet the Prophet.”
“Now that you mention it… the next one is the fated Round 11.”
Jeffrey muttered as if he’d only just remembered.
Even though he’d already resolved to protect Christine somehow in Round 11.
“Right. That’s probably why she wants to meet the Prophet. So, Jeffrey. You go to Korea as well. Of course, keep it secret from Christine.”
“You mean… tail her?”
“Yes. Protect Christine in secret from behind. And report everything she does to me. It would be even better if you eavesdrop on her conversation with the Prophet.”
“In God’s name, I will carry out the order.”
After that, Jeffrey followed Christine to Korea.
And he heard the voices of the two of them talking while sitting on a bench.
I should keep a 30-meter distance, in case I get caught by Detection.
Even at 30 meters, the surroundings were so quiet that it wasn’t difficult to hear their conversation.
But should he not have listened?
Watching the Prophet refuse again and again even to Christine’s requests, Jeffrey grew angry.
“How much can the future possibly change from a few words, that he’s hiding information like that?”
Since the life of the woman he loved was on the line, Jeffrey’s emotional investment was stronger than usual.
Hoo… calm down. Calm down and think of what I can do to help.
How could he help Christine?
He intended to protect her even at the cost of his life in Round 11, but that alone wasn’t enough.
It would be best if there were information about the attacker, but the Prophet was rigidly keeping his mouth shut like that.
He forgot? He’s obviously lying so he won’t give information.
Why?
Was he really afraid the future would change?
Well… if a result different from his future comes out, he’d lose the trust of the people who believed him.
In other words, even knowing Christine was in danger, he was leaving her alone to protect his position as “the Prophet.”
Now that I think about it, this pisses me off.
With eyes filled with killing intent, he glared at the Prophet going into the company building.
Then he decided.
He would squeeze the information out of the Prophet, even if he had to threaten him with force.
“Thank you for the Round 11 information.”
“Thank you, Prophet.”
The couple, Ma Kyung-rok and Christine, offered their thanks to Ryu Min.
“Let’s all endure Round 11 as well.”
Waving, Ryu Min left the company.
He’d originally planned to attend the meeting, but today he turned away, saying he’d rest.
Because there’s someone waiting for me to come out.
He didn’t look on purpose, but Ryu Min knew perfectly well that someone had a tail on him.
The guy following me now is probably the bastard who was eavesdropping on me and Christine at the bench earlier.
He was following from outside 30 meters to avoid getting caught by Detection, but not a chance.
Because Ryu Min had the rune that came out of the Rune Bundle.
[Rune of Sensibility]
-Effect: The range of Detection doubles, and you can hear and smell every sound and scent within the range.
What he’d drawn from the Rune Bundle was a rune he’d never seen before, called the Rune of Sensibility.
In short, it was a rune that strengthened Detection.
I got a very useful rune.
With the range doubled, there was no way he wouldn’t notice a tail.
On top of that, he could even hear the guy muttering in English.
—How much can the future possibly change from a few words, that he’s hiding information like that.
That was why Ryu Min noticed he was being followed.
If he’s muttering like that, he clearly has complaints against me.
He speaks English, and he holds hostile feelings toward him, the Prophet…
I can roughly guess who it is, but I should draw him out to be sure.
Even though he’d come by car, Ryu Min deliberately walked down the street.
And he deliberately went into an alley where it would be easy for the guy to show his true colors.
Only once they reached a spot with hardly any people did the guy bite the bait.
“Prophet.”
The moment Ryu Min turned his head at the English from behind—
Grab—!
The stalker seized his throat and slammed him hard against the wall.
“Gk—! J-Jeffrey?”
The stalker’s identity, confirmed too late, was the butler who followed Christine.
While acting out pain, Ryu Min calmly assessed the situation inside.
So it really was this guy? Why does he have hostility toward me? Should I read his thoughts?
Seeing the guy choking him with eyes full of killing intent, he understood instantly.
He’s angry because I didn’t give Christine the information.
Come to think of it, he’d heard the guy had been raised by Nathan and was basically family.
And yet he has an unrequited love for Christine. It isn’t connected to Christine somehow, is it?
Just in case, he read a little more—this was something he’d done on his own, unrelated to Christine.
For now, should I play along?
Ryu Min acted even more painfully than before.
“Ghhk, J-Jeffrey! I can’t breathe. L-let go!”
Maybe because the acting was too good, Jeffrey loosened his grip without realizing it.
Looks like he doesn’t actually intend to kill me.
Since he’d read his thoughts, the guy’s intention was obvious.
He was just planning to threaten him to get the information he hadn’t given Christine.
Coughing and rubbing his throat, Ryu Min shouted with the face of the weak.
“What the hell are you doing, attacking me out of nowhere?”
“Prophet. I don’t like you. I’ve been suspicious from the start. You see the future? You look like a total con artist.”
“A con artist? Haven’t I already proven my ability?”
“Of course, for now I believe what you say. But I still don’t like it.”
Jeffrey stared threateningly.
At some point, a dagger was in his hand.
Ryu Min swallowed hard, watching his mood.
“W-why are you doing this? What do you want?”
“Information.”
“Pardon?”
“I want information about the person who harms Christine.”
“I-I don’t know that either.”
“I heard your conversation with Christine. Even when she asked you to tell her who it was, you insisted you don’t remember and flatly refused.”
“Since you heard the conversation, you know. It couldn’t be helped. It would be troublesome if the future got twisted…”
“Right, troublesome. If the future changes, you’ll lose trust as a Prophet. From your perspective, it’d be very awkward.”
Lowering his voice, Jeffrey’s eyes rolled wide.
His gaze churned with anger.
“But you can’t just leave Christine in danger.”
“It’s not leaving her—”
“Cut the excuses.”
The cold feel of the dagger touched Ryu Min’s Adam’s apple.
“I won’t say it twice. Confess honestly everything you saw. Who harms Christine, and who saves Christine.”
“W-what if I don’t?”
“Then this dagger will come out through the back of your neck.”
It was a frightening thing to say, but having read his thoughts, Ryu Min knew.
No matter what he said, he had no intention of actually harming him.
Even so, this is too reckless.
What he was doing now was a clear threat, and even if he backed off like this, it was basically attempted murder.
Is he so blinded by love that he’s lost all sense of consequences?
With the thought that he needed to correct this habit, Ryu Min put his hand into his pocket.
Seeing him fidgeting with something, Jeffrey snapped and grabbed his hand.
Ryu Min’s phone came along with it, yanked out.
“What are you doing, touching your phone?”
When he checked, the recording function was on.
Jeffrey immediately pressed the power button and shut the phone itself off.
“Why? What were you going to do, record me?”
“I’m going to submit it to the police as evidence. This is clearly a threat, and attempted murder.”
“Heh-heh. A Player reporting to the police. Like they’d help you.”
“Then I’ll tell Christine and her family what you did.”
“Go on. I don’t know if a corpse can talk, but.”
“Haa… why are you doing this? What grudge do you have against me…”
“No particular grudge. But I might develop one if you don’t divulge the information.”
“I told you I don’t know who’s targeting Christine.”
“You think I’m stupid? It’s obvious you know and you’re not telling.”
“And you think I’ll just obediently talk because of this? I can’t do something that changes the future.”
“If you don’t talk now, you won’t have a future anyway. Because you’ll die.”
Even at Jeffrey’s threat, Ryu Min didn’t cower or look scared—he stared back boldly.
“Even if a knife is at my throat, what can’t be done can’t be done. The moment I spread future information to this person and that person, the future changes. The future I knew will already be gone, turned into scrap paper, and I’ll fall from ‘Prophet’ to a quack selling snake oil.”
“……”
“That’s how carefully you have to handle a tangled skein of the future. It’s not something you can get by threatening me. The moment you get the information and change your actions, who knows how the future will change again. Why can’t you consider that it could hurt Christine even more?”
Did Ryu Min’s persuasion work?
After a long silence, the dagger slipped away from Jeffrey’s hand.
“My thinking was short. Hearing you out, you have a point.”
“You’re not calling that an apology, are you?”
“Listen, Prophet. Do you want me to apologize? Don’t get cocky just because I put the knife away. Don’t forget I can pull it back out anytime.”
“……”
Leaving only that, Jeffrey vanished without a single apology.
Tch. So even threats won’t move him.
On the way back to his home country by plane, Jeffrey recalled the Prophet’s 모습 standing up to him without backing down.
How can he be that calm even with a knife at his throat?
At first, he’d looked frightened for sure, but the moment he started talking about prophecy, his expression changed completely.
It seemed he had some kind of sense of mission or firm conviction.
He’d thought if he just pressed a dagger against him, he’d spill everything, but it was unexpected.
So he can’t easily reveal specific future information, even if it costs him his life?
He had no way of knowing what the Prophet truly felt, but one thing was certain.
At least he won’t go around blabbing information to others for no reason.
Someone with a tight mouth is that much more trustworthy.
The Prophet’s reliability rose because of this incident, but that didn’t mean Jeffrey viewed him positively.
He has no flexibility. No flexibility. Would it kill him to give even a tiny hint?
If you put it kindly, he was fair and upright.
If you put it harshly, he had no flexibility.
It can’t be helped. If it’s come to this, I’ll just have to protect Christine with my own hands.
Not knowing that there were more people than expected who intended to protect her, Jeffrey returned to the synagogue together with Christine.
Of course, following Christine was a secret, so he left a bit of a gap before entering.
“Hello, Butler Jeffrey.”
When he went to the office, Christine—who had been talking with Nathan—greeted him.
“Hello, Christine.”
“It’s not ‘hello.’ Because of someone.”
“…?”
At the chilly reaction, Jeffrey raised a question mark, then tilted his head when he saw the phone Nathan held out.
“What is this?”
“The Prophet sent a file to me and Christine. Press it.”
When he pressed what looked like an audio recording file, a familiar voice flowed out.
—Why? What were you going to do, record me?
—I’m going to submit it to the police as evidence. This is clearly a threat, and attempted murder.
—Go on. I don’t know if a corpse can talk, but.
—I told you I don’t know who’s targeting Christine.
—You think I’m stupid? It’s obvious you know and you’re not telling.
—And you think I’ll just obediently talk because of this? I can’t do something that changes the future.
—If you don’t talk now, you won’t have a future anyway. Because you’ll die.
As he listened, Jeffrey panicked.
It was unmistakably his voice—no need to hear any more.
H-how? I definitely turned the phone off then.
In an instant, a hypothesis surfaced in his mind.
Don’t tell me… there were two phones?
His mind went blank-white, and only one thought remained.
…I got played.
He swallowed hard and raised his head.
Nathan and Christine were glaring at him with terrifying eyes.