AFK Grinding (2)

For the past week, Pastor Koh Yohan had barely eaten or slept.

He'd skipped church services, claiming illness. In truth, his body was in poor shape — though not because of any sickness. He had been drinking soju like water in place of meals, sleep, and prayer.

Could it really be true? Does the god of a heathen religion actually exist?

He stared blankly at his phone. On the screen sat an app he had resolved, time and time again, to delete.

Providence: Raising a Clergyman. That app had thoroughly tangled up his life of faith.

Is this some prank of Satan?

Because his faith mattered so deeply to him, he understood better than anyone: the miracles of this app were real.

No AI on earth could do something like this.

He also belonged to the young MZ generation of pastors. Unlike the fossilized old clergy, he kept reasonably current with AI and the latest trends. And that was precisely the problem. Any other out-of-touch old pastor would have brushed the whole thing off — Those pagan vermin are playing tricks with AI. What's our church's digital ministry even doing? Someone build us an AI pastor or something~ — and thought nothing more of it. Yohan couldn't afford that luxury.

“For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” — Ecclesiastes 1:18.

Right now, he genuinely felt the curse of knowledge.

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” — Proverbs 3:5–6.

He muttered scripture through gritted teeth, trying to pray away the turmoil churning inside him.

“Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.” — 1 Corinthians 8:1.

The one-room apartment Yohan lived in had been provided by his church. Leeching off a house like that while agonizing over questions of faith — the wretchedness of it made him sick.

Then why can't we work miracles like that?

However hard he tried to lose himself in prayer and scripture, the question he inevitably arrived at only tormented him more.

Enough. Delete it!

In the end, Yohan prevailed. He mustered every ounce of will he had and completely removed the Providence app from his phone. He denied the mysterious divinity that had come to him uninvited.

"Amen."

Yet the moment the app was gone, what Yohan felt wasn't liberation or enlightenment — only a lingering unease.

I'll go to church tomorrow.

Forcing the discomfort aside, he headed for the bathroom. He hadn't washed up properly in days, and his beard had grown in thick.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

That was when it happened.

A clear, bright alarm rang out from Yohan's phone.

"!!!"

The chime was crystal clear — but hearing it, Yohan's heart plummeted.

I deleted it! I know I did!?

He had uninstalled it, confirmed it, double- and triple-checked. So how?

"No… no."

He knew all too well the uncanny divinity of that app. So instead of thinking, These bastards planted malware on my phone!, what struck him with far greater force was the weight of conversion — of being claimed.

With trembling hands, he turned the phone on. And sure enough, the app he had surely deleted — Providence — was installed once more.

"!!!"

The content of the sudden quest was something he absolutely could not ignore.

A short while later…

"Hah… hah… hah…"

Yohan sprinted to the rooftop of the building the app had indicated, and just barely caught the girl before she could take her own life. She had been one heartbeat away from stepping off the edge.

"Sob… hnnnngh…"

The schoolgirl wept and wept in front of him, as though years of grief had come pouring out at once.

Yohan turned his gaze away for a moment and looked out over the neighborhood's night skyline. A red LED cross glowed indifferently in the dark.

"Why…? Why did you stop me? Why?!"

The girl rounded on him through her tears.

"…"

Yohan said nothing, simply studying her face. What was he supposed to say? Why did you make this choice? Think of your family. No matter how hard things get, this too shall pass. God loves you.

The same worn-out repertoire every time. And he knew it wouldn't do a damn thing.

Look at the world we live in now.

This girl in front of him had surely already seen ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the videos, sat through the counseling sessions built entirely on those same platitudes.

Was Minsu like this too?

Suddenly he thought of the young apostate the church had ultimately failed to embrace. If the Providence Church had never existed, Minsu might well have made the same choice as the girl standing before him now.

So this is all there is?

Yohan understood, finally, what this girl needed most. A goal. Hope. The fuel that keeps a human being alive.

"Hey… let me see your phone."

Yohan spoke at last. He took the girl's phone almost out of her hands and forcibly installed an app on it.

Ding!

A clear, crystalline chime — the sound of quest completion — rang from Yohan's phone.

For Heo Yuna, the past few months had been more intense, more precious, than all seventeen years of her life combined. The moment she watched the foreigner Lee Seop heal her sister Yumi with divine power, her entire existence changed course.

The religious fervor of a teenage girl burns far hotter than any adult's fanaticism. That day, Heo Yuna swore to devote everything she had to Lee Seop and the Providence Church.

"Lee Seop, sir! I'm going to drop out of school! I want to devote myself body and soul to the Providence Church!"

She confessed her fanaticism to him immediately.

"Cherish your life. Neither I nor the Mother wishes for you to give everything to a religion."

"!!!"

But Lee Seop's response was a rejection. Yuna's heart sank. It felt as though her life's purpose and direction had been snatched away in an instant.

"Th-then… what am I supposed to do?"

"Live ordinarily."

"I'm sorry?"

"Go to school ordinarily, get a job ordinarily, marry ordinarily, grow old ordinarily. That is what the Mother and I wish for you."

"…You know better than anyone that living an ordinary life is the hardest thing there is these days."

"Hahahaha. Fair point."

Back then, Lee Seop had smiled graciously and given her genuine career counsel.

"Yuna, I know your faith runs unusually deep and hot. So let's try this instead."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"How?"

"Study hard at school."

"I already do that."

"Study, and take part in a wide range of outside activities."

"Outside activities?"

"Let's build peer groups. Volunteer work is fine. Study groups are fine. Any hobby club will do."

"Okay…?"

"And as you go about those activities, whenever you find someone who needs our help — help them."

"That's proselytizing!"

"It is, and it isn't. We help others, and we never, ever make a show of it. Only if the person we've helped comes to want the Providence Church do we then, carefully, reveal ourselves."

"…!"

"We expand these activities slowly — high school, then university, then job seekers, then young professionals. The world we live in is packed to bursting with people suffering from competition, comparison, and isolation. So let's help them."

That single career counseling session changed the trajectory of Yuna's life.

"Yuna~ thank you so much for the Holy Water you gave me!"

"Yuna… could I talk to you about something? I need advice."

"Yuna! How did you solve this problem?"

"Yuna, that AR game you're always playing — Raising a Clergyman? I downloaded it yesterday, but how do you get the sudden quests?"

At school, Yuna was one of the popular kids. She'd always been well-liked — pretty face, sharp mind, a personality nobody could find fault with — but after discovering the Providence Church she became something more: proactive.

The first principle of Providence evangelism: proselytize without proselytizing. To faithfully carry it out, she became far more sociable and considerate than she had ever been before.

"Yuna! You're definitely coming to the school festival, right?"

"Yuna, about that Holy Water toner you gave me — do you think you could get your hands on another bottle? I tried ordering online, but the reservation list is still backed up by three months."

"Yuna! I'm thinking of starting a Raising a Clergyman gaming club — would you be willing to help us out?"

From classmates to juniors, seniors, and even teachers, Yuna had become the indispensable center of every gathering and event.

And it paid dividends for her college admissions, too — her proactive sociability and tireless extracurriculars made Heo Yuna's academic record and holistic admissions portfolio shine all the brighter.

"Yuna… do you really believe God exists?"

"I saw it online. Yuna, honestly, everyone else is calling them a cult, but we both know the truth, don't we? About what the Raising a Clergyman app and the Holy Water can actually do."

"Yuna, do you think I could attend a Providence worship service?"

Even after Lee Seop's infamous "cult confession," Yuna's life didn't change. The people around her treated her exactly as before. No — if anything, they began to look up to Heo Yuna as the very embodiment of faith. Before anyone realized it, she was regarded as something like a saintess, both in Yeonok-dong and at school.

I'll hand this system I've built in high school over to Yumi when she enrolls next year. Then at university, I'll keep building evangelism networks for the Providence Church the same way.

The power of faith was remarkable. Fanaticism kept Yuna from ever tiring. And at some point, an aura had begun to shine faintly from her — which only drew people to her more.

As Providence wills.

Yuna offered a brief prayer as she gazed at the status window floating in the air before her. Apart from the status window she'd received at her baptism, she also kept Providence installed on her phone — a necessity for mingling with potential believers who hadn't yet been baptized.

"Yuna…"

That was the moment.

Into the ears of a girl who heard her own name hundreds of times a day at minimum, one voice cut through — unmistakably special. A voice so clear and lovely it seemed made for singing.

"Jeong-ah."

Lee Jeong-ah. The prettiest girl among all the kids Yuna knew. Beautiful voice, brilliant mind, and no small measure of athletic talent. And above all…

"You're glowing again today, aren't you? Our Jeong-ah."

"Hm? Oh… yeah. Thanks. It's all thanks to that holy water you gave me."

Lee Jeong-ah radiated a halo every bit as bright as Yuna's own. But this one was different from any religious radiance. It was closer to star quality — the raw charisma of a born idol.

Lee Jeong-ah belongs to the Providence Church. No exceptions. We have to take her in!

Yuna's eyes gleamed as she looked at her.

"Oh, right — the funeral went okay?"

"Yeah…!"

"You're finally free! Congratulations!"

"Huh? Oh… um… Yuna? About that… did something happen to him…"

"Happen? Jeong-ah, your father fell off a railing while drunk and rowdy, and died. That's what happened."

"…Yeah."

"Why do you ask?"

"N-nothing. It's nothing."

To win over the girl before her, Yuna had gone to Lee Seop for help. More precisely, she had requested aid to deliver this pitiable child from her suffering.

"So what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know."

"Then how about preparing to become an idol or an actress, starting now?"

"M-me…?"

"Yes, you! You've got the talent. I guarantee it. If you need to attend an academy, just say the word — the Providence Foundation runs a scholarship program for gifted students."

"…Is that the will of the one you serve, Yuna?"

"And if it is?"

"Then I'll do it."

"Really?"

"Yeah… Because the Mother of All Things and her Firstborn Son saved me. Because they freed me… from that man."

Faith kindled and shone in the eyes of the girl who carried a star within her.

Lee Jeong-ah's mother had walked out when she was in the fourth grade. From the moment her second puberty began, she had endured every manner of abuse at her biological father's hands.

"Are you sure about this? The one I serve is famous worldwide as a cult leader."

"Doesn't matter."

Saying so, Jeong-ah turned her phone screen toward Yuna. On it was the Raising a Clergyman app — installed quite a while ago, by the look of it.

A zealot?!

Despite never having been baptized, Lee Jeong-ah was already at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Zealot level.

"There's a service tomorrow."

Yuna steadied her surprise and addressed the potential diva in front of her.

"Yeah, I heard. On Providence service days, all of Yeonok-dong buzzes like a beehive."

"Tomorrow's service will be different from the usual ones."

"?"

"It's the first Day of Proof."

"Day of Proof?"

"Lee Seop, sir says that on that day, he'll grant not only baptisms but Holy Stigmas as well. It happens only once a year, he says."

"A stigma? I don't really get it, but… if it means getting to see Lee Seop, sir in person, I want to go too…"

"Then go!"

"Really? Is it okay for filthy trash like me to…?"

"Filthy? Who's filthy? Where on earth would you find a soul as pure and clean as yours?"

Yuna pulled her poor friend — whose self-worth had been ground to dust by years of abuse — into a hug.

The Day of Proof! The Providence Church staged its first full-scale, meticulously planned religious event.

Providence Anima — the Providence Church's YouT*be channel — was airing its first official broadcast since the Holy Water advertisement shorts.

The viewer count was respectable. Actual Providence believers, however, made up only a small fraction of the audience — the true faithful had all gathered in the vacant lot in Yeonok-dong, where the service was underway in person. The people watching the Day of Proof online were potential believers: people who already knew and used the Providence Church's products.

Not everyone watching the livestream, however, was a potential convert with warm feelings toward the Providence Church.

"What the hell? Why are those guys out there with him?"

Under the NIS 2nd Deputy Director, a new department had been established recently. Its name: the Social Safety Department. Part of the existing bureaus managing subversive organizations had been transferred over. Their primary mission was monitoring domestic rogue elements that threatened public safety — cults among them. In truth, cults were the very reason the department had been created.

"Huh…? They've already risen that far? Then why the hell didn't anyone file a report?!"

Seo Tae-joon, the Director responsible for the Social Safety Department, glowered at the screen, his brow knotted. Among those appearing alongside Lee Seop were the three NIS agents who had infiltrated the Providence Church only recently. All three were guarding that cult leader with expressions of utmost, earnest devotion.

"…Those bastards? They are on assignment, right? RIGHT?!"