Chapter 159: Who Will Be the Next Pope? (6) At the appearance of the current pope of the Heirem Order, Karl X, Fedora knelt down.
Next, she clasped her hands, brought them to her forehead, and began reciting a prayer.
Not only her, but Veronica as well as the other clergy all knelt in the same way, and only Jinseo remained standing upright, staring blankly at Karl X.
I definitely heard the pope was in critical condition, but he doesn't look like it at all. Then could it be…?
Jinseo rubbed his eyes and examined Pope Karl X's face closely.
No matter how he looked at him, he didn't resemble someone lying sick, simply waiting for the day he would die.
The fine wrinkles set across his face only showed the years that had passed; everything else, including his complexion, looked far too healthy.
"I believe many of you are surprised to see me standing on my own two feet like this. Thanks to the blessings granted by the two sisters, I have regained my health. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the two sisters and to all brothers and sisters who have prayed for me every day."
So that was it.
With Karl X himself stepping forward to explain, Jinseo could finally accept it.
"W-what? Did our blessing truly work?"
"I-is it really true?"
However, Fedora and Veronica—who had seen Karl X lying in bed, hovering on the brink of death—looked up at him with eyes that couldn't believe it.
"Hohoho. I suppose I should prove with my own body that I have fully recovered."
With a gesture, the pope had the people around him step back, then did a back handspring on the spot.
Not once, but three times in a row.
"I can do this much without any trouble now."
Landing in a stable stance, he rolled up the long right sleeve with a swish and showed off a sturdy bicep to boast of his vigor.
Then, when he parted his lips in a smile, the light reflected off his white teeth and glittered.
It's good that you've recovered, but aren't you too healthy? Weren't you on your last legs until just recently?
Since Jinseo was seeing Karl X for the first time, he was dumbfounded by the man's behavior—showing off muscles that had been hidden beneath the white robe.
"I don't even know how many years it's been since I last saw His Eminence show off his health like that. Seeing those strong arm muscles, I'm moved."
"As expected of someone who used to be Captain of the Cathedral Knights."
But the clergy who had known Karl X from before nodded repeatedly as if it were only natural.
"So this is the food truck Sister Fedora designated as a sacred relic. I couldn't tell from the reports alone, but seeing it in person, it feels even more mysterious than I imagined. But…"
Approaching the food truck, Karl X sniffed the lingering bunsik scent in the air and swallowed, his mouth watering.
"It didn't happen when I was lying down all the time, but after so long, I'm feeling hungry again. Your name is Lee Jinseo, correct?"
"Uh… yes, that's right."
Jinseo flinched at Karl X standing behind the counter seats.
It was because he realized up close that the pope was much taller than he'd expected.
He's shorter than Craid, but I think he's taller than me.
"Brother Lee Jinseo, I would like to try the bunsik called tteokbokki that the two sisters here were eating. I rather like spicy food, so I'm looking forward to it."
"Understood."
A moment later, when Jinseo served special tteokbokki made with fire chicken sauce, the eyes of everyone gathered around the food truck focused on Karl X seated at the counter.
"So this is the special tteokbokki I've only heard of…"
Karl X gathered the tteokbokki in the dark, blackish red broth with his fork, speared several pieces at once, and put them straight into his mouth.
"Oh, it certainly is spicy."
He lifted his head to look up at the sky as he chewed the tteokbokki in his mouth.
"The intense spiciness is enough to sting the tongue. Yet it isn't merely spicy. The sweetness that comes after the heat softly wraps around the tongue. And yet, it interestingly brings the spiciness forward once again."
He raised the tteokbokki skewered on his fork high.
"A thought occurs to me. The white of the rice cakes within this tteokbokki is the color that symbolizes our Heirem Order. And…"
Karl X interpreted the white rice cakes as indicating the flesh, and the red tteokbokki broth as symbolizing blood and, at the same time, hardship.
These two, combined and cooked into bunsik—tteokbokki—inflict pain upon the eater, yet the happiness on the tongue gained by overcoming that pain aligns with the Order's teachings, and he arrived at that interpretation.
"Brothers and sisters."
After finishing one serving of special tteokbokki, Karl X wiped the sweat running down his forehead with a roll of tissue and continued.
"I will declare it here and now. Among the bunsik made at the food truck, a sacred relic of our Heirem Order, I designate special tteokbokki as sacred food—namely, holy fare. I stake the name granted to me by Him, the name Karl, on these words."
"Huh? Is that really okay?"
With special tteokbokki suddenly designated as holy fare, Jinseo couldn't hide his bewilderment.
"Of course. Haven't the brothers and sisters who ate this special tteokbokki been granting blessings more frequently, and more powerfully, than before? If so, I believe it is more than qualified to be holy fare."
"W-well… that's true."
Even as Jinseo nodded at Karl X's words, he still couldn't erase the expression of disbelief from his face.
In Korea, tteokbokki was a kind of bunsik you could commonly find just by walking through neighborhood alleys, so the dissonance of it being 'sacred food' in another world felt far too great.
But Jinseo was the only one who felt that dissonance, and everyone else accepted Karl X's "declaration of special tteokbokki as holy fare" as if it were natural.
Fwoosh.
Light bursting from Karl X brightly enveloped those gathered around the food truck.
"Thanks to special tteokbokki… I'm so glad I can hear His voice again."
Karl X, who had delivered a blessing for the first time in half a year, looked back and forth between Fedora and Veronica and then smiled gently.
"With this, it has been proven. The holy power of the two sisters present here has surpassed mine."
Holy power only takes effect on those whose holy power is lower than one's own.
Therefore, since he possessed the highest holy power and was pope, his blessings should, in principle, free everyone from suffering.
Yet Fedora and Veronica were still sweating, their brows knitted, unable to fully escape the pain caused by the special tteokbokki.
"This also means the two sisters possess one of the qualifications required of the next pope. For the Order's development—and for reform—I hereby declare, in this very place, that one of these two sisters will ascend as the next pope."
At Karl X's declaration—first naming special tteokbokki as holy fare, then designating the next pope—the clergy began to murmur.
"Fortunately, I have regained my health thanks to the blessings of the two of you, but considering my age, it would not be strange if my health worsened again at any time. I made this decision as a preparation for the future. That said, remember: I am not saying I will step down from the papacy immediately."
After finishing, Karl X drank the Fish Cake Soup Jinseo had served and smiled with his eyes.
"Your Eminence, I do not have the qualification to dare ascend to such a high seat."
Veronica quietly pointed with her right hand to the glass cup with CoolXse half remaining, then changed the direction and pointed to another glass cup filled with CoolXse.
"I drank this much of the CoolXse Lee Jinseo served earlier, but Sister Fedora did not even touch it. The one who endures greater pain possesses greater holy power, so it is only right that the qualification for the next pope be granted not to me, but to Sister Fedora."
"Ah—no… I…"
At Veronica's unexpected recommendation, Fedora panicked, unable to keep her gaze in one place.
"I see. However, it does not change that both of you are qualified. We will discuss this topic further later… Young brother, this time I would like tempura. That seaweed roll tempura looks quite appetizing."
After placing the additional order, Pope Karl X looked at Jinseo placing seaweed rolls into the fryer, then seemed to make a decision and nodded.
"The catalyst that allowed the qualities of the two sisters to grow to the point of surpassing mine can be said to be thanks to the young brother standing before me."
"No. I only sold bunsik."
"Accordingly, I intend to grant sainthood to this young brother who created the sacred food, special tteokbokki."
"Huh?"
So shocked at being singled out as a saint, Jinseo dropped the seaweed roll tempura he had just pulled from the fryer back into the oil.
"N-no. That's impossible. Me, a saint…?"
"I have long received reports that, by driving a sacred relic about, you have greatly contributed to improving the Order's image. Should you not receive due recompense for your merit?"
"Your Eminence, I am grateful for your words, but I cannot accept. I have done nothing other than add a spicier taste to the tteokbokki I already used to make, and I am not a believer of the Order either."
Jinseo refused Karl X's proposal without the slightest hesitation.
When the food truck was designated as a sacred relic, Jinseo judged it beneficial in many ways and accepted without much thought.
So at first he found it absurd, but he could somehow accept even the designation of special tteokbokki as holy fare.
But being named a saint himself—Jinseo couldn't accept that so easily.
"If Your Eminence absolutely must bestow some title upon me…"
He was about to say it would be enough if they simply remembered him as a helper who aided the Order appropriately, but his voice trailed off.
Because he couldn't come up with an analogy that listeners would easily understand.
After pondering for a long while, Jinseo saw the white snow piled up on the roof of the Grand Cathedral across from them, and an appropriate expression came to mind.
"I think it would be just right to say I'm about the level of Rudolph, the one who pulls Santa grandpa's sleigh."
"Rudolph? Is he a saint of the religion you believe in, young brother?"
Oh, damn it. That wasn't an appropriate expression.
This was not Korea, but the Holy Land of the Francia Continent.
In the end, Jinseo had no choice but to start explaining again from the beginning.
"No. If you insist on classifying it, you can think of it as a sacred animal that appears in the religion my family believed in, and an assistant to a saint."
"How intriguing. Could you explain in more detail?"
"It's a story about another religion. Is that alright?"
"Our Heirem Order is not exclusive toward other religions. And I have received reports that the religion you believe in has surprisingly many similarities to our Heirem faith, so personally, I was also very interested. So don't worry—please tell me."
"Then I'll need to start by talking about Christmas. Soon, the Holy Festival will begin, right? On the continent where I lived…"
Jinseo began explaining to Karl X the origins of Santa and Rudolph.
But words clearly had limits, so he played, for reference, the Christmas-related video he had shown at the Kaysus Cathedral last year.
"Is that white-bearded clergyman the saint called Santa that Jinseo mentioned earlier?"
"It looks like reindeer are pulling a sleigh… but only one has a nose glowing red."
The clergy gathered in front of the large TV reacted with continuous fascination as they watched the ceremony of another religion for the first time.
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