Old wood creaked beneath Hwang Jung Min's boots as he walked down the aisle. Pews were scorched black. Pillars cracked open like broken bones. Holy statues stood headless, their expressions eroded by time or gunfire.
He stopped in front of the altar.
The crucifix above it hung crooked—blown off its mount by something that didn't believe in forgiveness. The wall behind it was marked with twelve bullet holes.
Jung Min lit a cigarette from a candle still burning low.
They always said fire purifies. Never said what it leaves behind.
He stared at the wall.
Twelve shots.
Twelve dead.
All Saints. All brothers.
Behind him, the door groaned open.
"Still brooding in the ruins, hyung?" came a voice. Calm, worn out.
Jung Min didn't turn.
"Didn't think you'd come back, Seok Jin."
Jang Seok Jin stepped into the faint candlelight, hands in his coat pockets, priest collar slightly crooked. Still pretending he wasn't part of it.
"I had to see it again. The place where you stopped believing."
Jung Min dragged on the cigarette.
"I didn't stop believing," he said. "I just stopped lying to myself."
Ten years ago, this chapel was sacred.
Now it was a graveyard with better architecture.
Back then, Jung Min had been a prodigy—youngest member of the Seoul-based Order of Saints. Gun-blessed clerics trained to exorcise demons, ghosts, heretics, even rogue angels. He was a weapon in robes. They called him Bullet Saint.
Until the Codex Job.
A sealed order. No name, just coordinates.
A quiet village.
A woman.
A child.
"Divine speaker," the Order claimed.
"Dangerous anomaly."
He was supposed to eliminate them.
He hesitated.
They sent his squad to finish the job.
He arrived too late.
The girl was curled over her mother's body, knife still in her hands. A last, desperate defense.
Jung Min's captain, Yoo Jin Ho, stood over them, sword dripping with blood, whispering a final prayer.
Jung Min shot him in the head.
Then he reloaded.
"You think they were innocent?" Seok Jin asked behind him.
"I don't think," Jung Min said. "I remember."
He flicked ash to the floor.
They wanted obedience. I gave them bullets.
"You're still a wanted man, you know," Seok Jin said.
"Good."
"They call you traitor."
"Better than what they used to call me."
Jung Min stared at the crooked crucifix one last time. The candle sputtered out. The rain outside grew louder, tapping against broken stained glass.
"You still believe in anything?" Seok Jin asked quietly.
Jung Min stepped past him, into the rain.
"Lead. That's all I need."
He didn't look back.
The chapel didn't deserve it.
End of Chapter 1