I Just Wanted to Avoid Death - Chapter 16
Yeshion smiled awkwardly, sounding apologetic. His soft smile was so unfamiliar that the priest blinked in surprise.
But Yeshion didn’t notice, leaning back into a chair behind a statue, struggling to catch his breath. His body wasn’t recovering as quickly as he had hoped.
‘…There’s suddenly so much going on.’
At this point, Yeshion wondered about what the author had been thinking. The main characters were madmen, sure, but why did they ruin the reputation and actions of a villain who barely appeared and then died?
Yeshion sat in a corner of the prayer room, resting but keeping his ears perked, curious about how the other priests would judge him and what the devotees thought of him.
He needed to understand how the ‘Yeshion’ of the original story had treated others.
“Isn’t that the priest who grabbed Susan’s hair last time?”
“He’s the one who whipped people, claiming they were possessed by evil spirits… Yeah, it’s him!”
‘….What on earth has this guy been doing?’
This time, he overheard the priests murmuring.
“If he picks up on something, he might end up killing someone.”
“Yeah, and it’s always the southern prayer hall that gets caught in his mess. Everywhere Yeshion goes, he leaves trouble behind.”
Yeshion, with a somber look, quietly turned his head away. When he eventually left the temple, he thought he might give gifts to the priests who had suffered because of the original ‘Yeshion.’
‘No, maybe just staying quiet would be the biggest gift to them.’
After all, if someone you dislike gives you a gift, it wouldn’t be welcome. They’d probably toss it straight into the trash.
‘Yes. Let’s stay quiet and leave unnoticed.’
For now, Yeshion planned to check the belongings of the ‘Yeshion’ in the original story once today’s work in the southern prayer hall was done.
Maybe there would be a journal, and even if there wasn’t, just finding some money would be enough.
‘I’ll sneak out in the dead of night before I get any more involved with the main characters.’
As he resolved to do so, a voice called out, “Priest… Priest!”
By the time the sun had set and the temple’s visiting hours had ended, some of the devotees Yeshion had prayed for earlier started rushing back.
Startled, Yeshion widened his eyes as they hurried over and knelt before him.
“W-what… Why are you doing this so suddenly?”
Could something have gone wrong?
Yeshion nervously parted his lips, but the man kneeling closest to him looked up and said,
“I’m healed… I’ve been cured!”
“What?”
“My illness is gone!”
The man rolled up his sleeve to show Yeshion.
He had come to the temple because of a severe skin disease. The itching had been unbearable, and scratching it with his hands never helped. Only using something rough, like a rock, until he bled could offer some temporary relief.
“When I received your prayer, it still itched, but as soon as I left the temple, the itching stopped!”
“..…”
“At first, I thought it was just temporary and didn’t pay much attention, but when I got home and changed my clothes… the disease was gone! Look, my skin is clear now!”
Even the scars from scratching himself with the rough stone had completely disappeared.
‘…That can’t be.’
Yeshion was momentarily taken aback, but he quickly forced an awkward smile and shook his head. Then, the woman who had accompanied the man nodded enthusiastically.
“The same happened to me. My child’s fever has gone down!”
This woman’s daughter had been running a high fever for a week. The doctor had warned her that if the fever didn’t break soon, she should prepare for the worst. Desperate, she had come to the temple, clinging to whatever hope she could find.
After hearing her story, Yeshion had sprinkled holy water over the child and prayed for the fever to subside and for the illness to leave.
According to her, the very same child who had been on the verge of death was now laughing and saying she was hungry.
“Priest, thank you so much. Truly, thank you!”
But Yeshion’s face grew more rigid.
“That… That’s not because of my prayer.”
Yeshion spoke hastily, pointing to the mid-level priest standing behind him.
“It’s all thanks to this priest who prayed with me. He’s known in the temple for healing illnesses.”
“Is that true?”
“Yes. It wasn’t me; it was this priest’s prayers that healed you.”
Yeshion spoke with absolute certainty, without a shred of doubt in his voice.
Of course, it was only natural.
According to the story, Yeshion had no divine power. He was a fake priest.
