Heredity (1)

Yang Juhui asked.

“Did you tell the police about this story?”

“No. I don’t think they’d believe me even if I did. For now, only we know.”

“That’s good. My mom will be really sad if she finds out about this. It was our mom who forced my sister to go to Yeongji High even though she didn’t want to. So…”

“If she had just sent her to a different high school, maybe she wouldn’t have gone missing… Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yeah. If she sees this, she’ll think of my sister again. Then her church craziness might get even worse, so let’s just keep quiet for now.”

Well.
I didn’t want to go around blabbing to the whole neighborhood either.
I’m a villain. An impostor.
I don’t want to draw unnecessary attention.

“By the way. Is there a reason your mother insisted your sister go to Yeongji High?”

“My sister originally wanted to go to a vocational high school and get a job right away. But my mom told her to go to a regular high school anyway. They fought a lot about it then.”

So Yang Dohee’s grades weren’t that great.
If she barely got into the worst school, Yeongji High.

“Come to think of it, our maternal grandmother also said my sister had to go to Yeongji High no matter what. She said that was the only way we’d all survive. But grandma had dementia, so she was a bit erratic. She also said there was a river flowing underground.”

“A river? Flowing underground?”

“I don’t really know either. My mom would know more about this story. She took care of grandma until she passed away. Before she got dementia, grandma was really something else.”

*Swish*

Yang Juhui showed me her phone.
Seeing the photo of her maternal grandmother, who had been the head shaman… I was quite surprised.
Because her grandmother was wearing a Japanese costume called a kimono.

“Isn’t that Japanese clothing?”

“Yeah. I heard my grandma lived in Japan when she was young. Then, when they were building Yeongji High, she was called to perform a Nureumgut ritual and settled down in Gaeryong.”

I had heard this story somewhere before.
Wasn’t it in the materials I researched for the feng shui ghost case?

A local bigwig named Cheon wanted to tear down his mansion and build a school in that location, but unfortunate accidents kept occurring, so they wanted to perform a Nureumgut ritual.

“Your grandmother was living in Japan, then got invited to come to Gaeryong?”

“Yeah. It was a huge deal back then. The local shaman, guarding the village shrine tree, and my grandma fought fiercely, threatening to kill each other. Apparently, that woman was against building the school.”

I knew this story, too.
The famous ‘Gaeryong Head Shaman’ opposed the school construction and refused to perform the Nureumgut ritual. So the local landowner Cheon brought in a ‘Japanese shaman’ from outside!

“In the end, my grandmother won and performed the ritual, and Yeongji High was built. She received tons of money from the Cheons, making our family rich… But my mom donated it all to the church, which is why we’re in this state now.”

I see…
I felt enlightened but also a bit doubtful.

Honestly, I had thought the shaman ghost in the old school building might be Yoo Dahee’s grandmother or someone on her maternal side. But that eyeless shaman was wearing a Korean hanbok, not Japanese clothing.

Let’s say the headless ghost is Bong Seyeon.
Then who exactly is that shaman ghost?
Come to think of it, two shamans appeared in the ‘school construction’ story just now.

The native shaman of Gaeryong.
The foreign shaman from Japan.

If the possibility of the shaman ghost being Yang Juhui’s grandmother is gone…
There’s only one conclusion left.
It’s the turn of the head shaman of the Seongangdang shrine who lived like a guardian spirit in Gaeryong - the native shaman.

“Do you know what happened to the native shaman who lost to your grandmother?”

“…Native?”

“Your grandmother is Japanese, right?”

“No, my grandma is Korean. She just went to Japan to study and stuff.”

I see.
Yang Juhui is also a native Korean.

“I don’t know what happened to the native shaman. But I do know what happened to the place where her shaman’s house used to be. They cut down the shrine tree and built a church there. The Church of Glory. That caused an uproar, too. When they cut down the sacred tree, people were asking if they weren’t afraid of divine punishment.”

The village shrine tree.
That’s not just any tree, but a sacred and spiritually powerful tree.

And they cut it down.
Weren’t they afraid of heavenly retribution?

They weren’t afraid at all!
A pastor with deep enough faith to build a church on top of it would see a village shrine as nothing more than a thick, old tree!
It was 20th-century Christians who destroyed Buddhist statues and cut down Dangun’s sacred tree, so why would they be afraid of some measly tree?

‘The village shrine tree is just a big tree, nothing more.’

For some reason, that conversation replayed in my head.
Yang Juhui said.

“Hey. But you seriously went to that scary school with Yoo Dahee? You and Jeong Seok are both scaredy-cats.”

“Dahee said she’d grant me a wish if I went with her.”

“What?”

Yang Juhui furrowed her brow.
She looked like she wanted to say something, then closed her mouth but eventually spoke.

“Hey. Do you want to go to church with me tomorrow? Don’t you want to hear what happened to the village shrine shaman? The pastor would know well.”

“Suddenly trying to convert me?”

“My mom’s been nagging me lately about not going to church. It’s a bit awkward to go alone. If you come to church with me, I’ll grant you a wish, too. Nothing weird, though.”

Oh, shit!
If all the street evangelists were like Yang Juhui, churches would be overflowing with people.

“If I go to church with you tomorrow, will you make up with Yoo Dahee?”

“……”

“Seems like Yoo Dahee had her circumstances too. Her suddenly saying she doesn’t remember - her memories really may have abruptly disappeared. Like my mom.”

“…Well. I’ll talk to her.”

Although I pretended to hate it, going to the Church of Glory once didn’t seem so bad.

Since the ‘culprit’ of the high school girl beheading that Jeong Seok mentioned apparently works as a deacon at that church. I could kill two birds with one stone and… I thought it’d be good to see Pastor Cheon Aesu too.

…But I was a bit worried about Yoo Dahee.
I sent her a message, but forget a reply, she hasn’t even seen it.

Up until elementary school, I was a pastor’s son.
This means that I know the church system better than anyone.

Sunday.
The day people who go to church call the Lord’s Day is the day the Lord was resurrected.
Yang Juhui and I headed to the Church of Glory.

High school service starts at 11 a.m.
At the entrance, people who seemed to be youth pastors or high school teachers were warmly greeting the students.

“Yang Juhui! Juhui! It’s been so long!”
“Juhui, you get prettier by the day!”

Yang Juhui was popular.
Pretty girls are always popular, no matter where.
They are naturally popular at church, too.

“……”

I stepped away from the crowd gathering around Yang Juhui and looked at the church building.
It’s big.
You could easily call it a mid-sized church.

I also saw the words “Presbyterian Church of Korea” written.
The Presbyterian Church of Korea has several denominations, but it’s the largest faction in Korea, surpassing the Methodist and Baptist churches.
It meant this wasn’t some shady cult but an orthodox church.

I had considered the probability that Deaconess Kim Yeook was attending a cult-like church.
But I was completely off the mark to the point of embarrassment.

“Juhui. Who’s that over there?”
“Your boyfriend, perhaps?”

The church sisters made a fuss, looking at Yang Juhui.
Yang Juhui smiled awkwardly at them.

“He’s a classmate. I evangelized to him.”

“Juhui, who hardly even comes to church evangelized!”
“Wow, the sun will rise from the west tomorrow!”

Yes, yes.
That reaction is natural.
Soon, a woman with her hair tied back and a gentle face spoke to me.

“What’s your name, friend? Have you been to church before? Or is this your first time? I’m Ju Chanmi from the new members’ team. Nice to meet you.”

Ju Chanmi!
A cool sister with a unique name and a stylish look, her hair casually tied back.
She would make a perfect crush.

“I’m Ha Youngwon.”

“Hmm. Then, could you write your name, address, and phone number here briefly?”

Pretty sisters were acting friendly and asking for my phone number.
The atmosphere made it impossible not to write my address and phone number.
Newbies would have totally fallen for this.

But if I write my name and number here, it’s over in many ways!
Now they’ll contact me whenever I don’t come to church on weekends!

Although churches with that kind of passion are slowly decreasing these days… judging by the vibe of this Church of Glory, they’ll definitely call every week.
This place is a very passionate church.

“I… I just came to look around today. I only want to observe.”

I deliberately pretended not to know anything.
Acting like a clueless newbie.
Then Sister Chanmi, who was looking at me, smiled brightly with a skillful attitude.

“Ah! Then let’s do that!”
“What. Did Chanmi just get rejected trying to get a high school boy’s number?”

*Giggle*

What a warm and friendly atmosphere this church has.

As you just saw, church people are generally kind to new members they’re seeing for the first time.
When I heard about this ‘Church of Glory,’ it sounded like a cult den, but seeing it like this, it seemed ordinary.

“Hey. Tsk. Yang Juhui. It’s been so long.”
“The deaconess was complaining so much about you not coming to church.”

There were also ordinary church oppa’s.

The term ‘church oppa’ sounds a bit iffy… In reality, it’s just a few weird guys muddying the waters, but most are kind and friendly people.
They soon took an interest in me.

“Wow. Juhui evangelized? A classmate?”
“I heard Yang Juhui has a scary reputation. Did she extort you or something?”
“…You weren’t dragged here against your will today, were you?”

These are socially savvy folks with good intuition.
But originally, the people in charge of new members were usually popular like this.
New members tend to be shy and passive.

To break down their barriers, friendly and outgoing popular people need to deal with them.
Soon, the women also flocked to me.

“Are you Juhui’s boyfriend?”
“Are you dating Yang Juhui?”
“Eek!”

*Giggle*

It’s a total uproar.

This isn’t because I’m good-looking, but because ‘Yang Juhui,’ who brought me, is a popular person at the Church of Glory.
They’re curious about who Yang Juhui brought! That kind of feeling.
Usually, even if someone’s a new member, they don’t show this much interest.

“Youngwon? Your name has a lot of circles.”
“His face is turning red!”

It is a bit embarrassing.
When does the service even start?

Soon, the pastor in charge of the high school group entered the chapel and stood at the pulpit.
He’s young.

40s at most?
He wasn’t the senior pastor ‘Cheon Aesu.’
Pastor Cheon Aesu must have been presiding over the 10 a.m. ‘main service,’ not the high school service.

The order of the service was ordinary with hymns, sermon, prayer, benediction, etc.
What about the sermon?

“Today’s Scripture is Matthew chapter 3. Please find it in your Bibles. For those without Bibles, it’s on the screen here… Now. Let’s all read together…”

It’s ordinary.
Was I being too suspicious and dubious?

“Now. Let’s finish with the benediction. Now by our Lord Jesus Christ…”

The service was 1 hour.
Adequately long and adequately short.

After the service, we had something called small group meetings.
You could think of it as a group meeting for fellowship, named after the sheepfold (pasture).

I participated in the same small group as Yang Juhui.
The meeting place was a cafe near the church.

Everyone chatted and laughed about how their week went, sharing this and that. This atmosphere felt familiar yet a bit uncomfortable.
How many years has it been since I’ve been to church?

No.
Now’s not the time for this.
I wanted to somehow bring up the story of the ‘deacon’ who attends this church.
That’s when it happened.

“So everyone was here.”

A large man entered the cafe, acting like he knew us.
Soon, people stood up and greeted him with “Hello, Pastor” or “Pastor!”
I could tell that this bear-like, bulky man was Cheon Aesu, the pastor of the Church of Glory.

He seemed to be around 50 years old.
Rather than a church pastor, he looked like a retired MMA fighter.
After finishing his order, Pastor Cheon Aesu approached us.

“I heard Juhui came to church after a long time. Phew, it’s harder to see our Juhui than celebrities. At least you can see celebrities if you turn on the TV or YouTube.”

“Uh… yes. Pastor. Hehe…”

The atmosphere was so awkward that even Yang Juhui laughed uncomfortably.
However, Pastor Cheon Aesu’s eyes were directed at me, not Yang Juhui’s face.

“You must be Youngwon. I heard a lot about you from your mother. You’re more handsome than I heard!”

“Pardon?”

I was truly taken aback.
Because something I never even imagined came out of Pastor Cheon Aesu’s mouth!
It felt like I was suddenly stripped naked of all my armor and cloak.

“…You know my mother?”

“Of course I do. It was my suggestion for your mother to come here from Seoul and get a job. Do you have some time? I’d like to talk about your father.”

Sweat ran down my back, and cicadas began crying all around.

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