The First Believer
After a long, passionate kiss with Ma Hyunju—tasting and teasing each other—I finally pulled back for a breath.
For a while, neither of us said anything.
Ma Hyunju couldn't quite bring herself to meet my eyes.
"...Hyunju."
"Yes?"
"Did you not like it?"
She hesitated a moment, then shook her head.
"No."
It was a small voice.
"Then is it all right if I keep coming closer?"
When I smiled playfully, Ma Hyunju's face flushed even deeper.
"If you ask me like that, what am I supposed to say......"
That was answer enough.
I drew close to her again.
She seemed more at ease than before—she gingerly took hold of the hem of my shirt.
Then I took her hand, led her into my bedroom, and laid her down naturally on the bed.
And the kiss began again.
Her forehead. Her nose. Her cheek.
Her lips.
Down along her jaw to her neck.
Back to her lips.
Maybe because we'd both settled into a more comfortable position than before, the heat between us only climbed, and our hands began to wander over each other.
And then, naturally, I drew the hem of her blouse out from under her skirt, lifted it up, and took it off.
In this world, men had become rare.
But the idea that women would throw themselves at any man they laid eyes on was a lie.
People were still people.
They stayed wary of strangers.
They felt shy.
They worried about how they came across.
Ma Hyunju was no different.
"Hyunju."
"Yes."
"Your chest is so beautiful."
".... Yeah... I'm embarrassed."
"I can't hold back anymore."
"...... Me neither."
This time the answer came a little faster.
Certain that this was one hundred percent consent, I kissed her deeply, teased her lips with my tongue, and caressed her breasts like a man possessed. Ma Hyunju flinched at first, then soon began letting out soft little moans.
Then I slid her skirt and panties down together and looked at her.
Her pink peak peeked out shyly.
With my tongue, slick with my own saliva, I lavished that small bud with slow, devoted attention.
From below, up to the top.
A gentle clockwise swirl, then up again.
Down.
A reverse circle, then up.
Ma Hyunju's lower body trembled faintly, her knees drawing inward.
At that moment, I parted her legs with both hands
and pressed inside.
In that instant she gasped in shock, a huge moan tearing out of her.
"Ah—hhhk!"
And then I thrust into her again and again, like a madman.
"Ah—!"
"Ah—!"
"Ah—!"
"Ah—!"
"Ah—hh... ngh...!"
"Ah—hah... ah.......!"
"Ah—"
"Ah—"
"Ah—"
"Ah—"
"Ah—"
"Ah—"
I clenched my jaw, focused with everything I had, and let no sound escape me except my breathing—
so my tiny room filled up entirely with the sound of her moans.
How much time had passed?
"Hah—"
"Hah—"
"Hah—"
"Mm-hah—"
"Hah—"
"Mm-hah—"
"Hah—"
"Mm-hah—"
Perhaps a sign that her excitement had peaked, she was drenched, glistening copiously, her inner thighs trembling with the faint shudder of an oncoming climax.
I concentrated harder and drove in deeper.
And then.
At the moment of her climax, I pulled out quickly
and finished on her chest.
Then I collapsed beside her and stared up at the ceiling.
Ma Hyunju, sprawled on the bed, panted for breath and stared at the ceiling too, for a long while.
"Are you okay?"
No answer.
Worried I'd done something wrong, I propped myself up slightly—
and Ma Hyunju suddenly yanked the blanket up over her face.
"What's wrong?"
"......I'm embarrassed."
"About what?"
"All of it."
Only her ears peeked out from under the blanket.
They were scarlet.
I snorted with laughter.
"You weren't shy a minute ago, when you—"
"Don't say it!"
Still chuckling, I lay back down.
A little later.
Ma Hyunju pulled the blanket down to just below her eyes.
"Hyunwoo."
"Yes?"
"Can I say something weird?"
"Go ahead."
A brief silence.
Then she spoke with an utterly serious expression.
"I honestly thought...... I'd just been to heaven."
"......."
This time it was my turn to be at a loss for words.
Ma Hyunju seemed embarrassed at her own words and hid her face again.
But.
The corners of my mouth lifted on their own.
Heaven, she said.
A woman I'd met for the first time today.
A woman who'd been going to church for three years, no less, had used those words.
There was no way I could feel bad about that.
If anything, a strange confidence was welling up inside me.
Until just now, I had been a nobody with nothing.
No money.
No job.
No connections, no knowledge worth the name.
My grand ambition to unify all of Korea's religions would have sounded like pure lunacy if I'd said it out loud.
And yet.
At least one person had begun to see me differently.
Ma Hyunju stuck her face out from under the blanket.
"You remember what you said earlier?"
"What?"
"About becoming God."
I laughed.
"That?"
"Honestly, at first I thought...... you were a strange man."
"And now?"
She looked at my face.
It was different from her shy expression of moments ago.
Curiosity.
Expectation.
And blended in with them, a strange, hard-to-describe conviction.
"I'm starting to think it really could happen."
A laugh escaped me.
"Seems like a pretty impure reason to me."
"If a believer says she believes, isn't it rude of God to argue?"
"You're a believer already?"
Ma Hyunju thought for a moment.
Then she smiled.
"First believer."
Strangely, I liked the sound of that.
First believer.
I stared up at the ceiling.
"So you'll be my believer, not just my partner?"
I asked her, brimming with confidence, and she answered shyly.
"Yes....."
2.
Somang Church had about fifteen congregants.
One of them.
Just one.
So what about tomorrow?
I sat bolt upright in bed.
"Hyunju."
"What is it?"
"What's the pastor's name?"
Ma Hyunju's expression turned odd.
"Why do you ask about the pastor all of a sudden?"
Now that I thought about it, I hadn't even learned her name.
At the church earlier, I'd only confirmed that she was the pastor and left it at that.
"Next step, obviously."
"......You can't be serious."
"I'm going to see her today."
"Today?"
I checked my phone.
"No reason to wait until Sunday, is there?"
"But the pastor told you to come on Sunday."
"Which is why I'm going for a talk, not for the service."
Ma Hyunju raised herself up on one elbow.
"To the pastor's house?"
"Yes."
"You're just going to show up out of nowhere?"
"Just give me the address."
"That's a bit......"
Sure enough, she didn't hand it over right away.
Understandable.
No matter that I was the man she'd just slept with, the pastor's home address was still someone else's private information.
I changed tactics.
"Then contact her for me first."
"Me?"
"Tell her the man she met at the church today would like to talk more about religion, and ask if she'd be willing to meet for a little while this evening."
Ma Hyunju deliberated.
"And if the pastor says no?"
"Then I don't go."
I said it easily.
"I have no intention of forcing my way over and knocking on her door."
At that, Ma Hyunju's expression softened a little.
She picked up the phone she'd set beside the bed.
"I'll ask."
"Thank you."
Ma Hyunju began typing her message.
I lay beside her, deliberately not looking at her screen.
Instead, I thought.
This morning.
I'd walked out of my house carrying nothing but one absurd idea: that I would unify religion.
And by the afternoon.
I had my first believer.
It might have been a coincidence.
It might have been my imagination.
Ma Hyunju might simply have taken a liking to me and played along.
None of it mattered.
That's what beginnings are always like.
3.
A little while later.
Ma Hyunju's phone chimed.
She checked the message.
Her eyes widened slightly.
"The pastor said......"
"What did she say?"
Ma Hyunju looked at me.
"She said she's free this evening."
I smiled slowly.
First, Ma Hyunju.
And now.
It was the pastor of Somang Church's turn.
4.
Thanks to Ma Hyunju's mediation, I learned where the pastor lived,
and after leaving my house I parted ways with her.
Then I searched my map app to find my way to the pastor's home alone.
"Twenty minutes on foot from my place..."
More than fine.
A nice walk to settle the excitement still thrumming through me from earlier.
5.
8 p.m.
Ding-dong—
I arrived at the pastor's house and pressed the bell.
A second-floor unit in a small villa.
"Who is it?"
"Kang Hyunwoo—we met earlier today. Ma Hyunju gave me your address..."
Before I'd even finished, the door swung open.
It was the pastor I'd seen earlier, dressed in extremely comfortable-looking clothes.
Honestly, I was a little thrown off.
Not exactly what you'd expect a pastor to wear, let's say.
"Is there something you needed?"
"Waiting until Sunday's service felt like too long, so I thought I'd visit and discuss something serious with you in person."
"Ah, of course, come in."
The pastor let me in readily and guided me to the living room.
"Coffee all right?"
"Ah, yes, anything's fine."
Watching her prepare the coffee, I turned plenty of thoughts over in my head.
Along with the conviction that conquering this pastor would be the first step to conquering her church.
6.
Clink—
The pastor set the coffee cup down on the table and said,
"So, what brings you here, exactly...?"
"Ah, right. As I mentioned earlier, I want to unify religion—"
"Yes, I remember. But you also said you know nothing about religion."
"Correct. But I've been thinking, and it seems I don't need to."
"I'm... sorry? Why not?"
"Because I've realized I'm about to become the religion myself! The Great Integration Faith!"
"......."
At those words, the pastor's eyes went slack. She squinted, one eye half-closed, and furrowed her brow.
"Are you... some kind of cult leader?"
"Ah, no, not at all. I champion righteousness and reject evil—"
"Please leave."
"I'm... sorry?"
"I said, leave."
"Ah... well, you see—"
"If you don't leave, I'm calling the police."
I was flustered. It was my own fault—I'd come here and spouted nothing but nonsense straight to her face, with no coherent thread to any of it.
"Ma Hyunju told me she saw heaven—because of me!"
I squeezed my eyes shut and raised my voice.
"......."
When I cracked my eyes open and looked at her,
she was still staring at me, brow faintly creased.
Then she spoke.
"What do you mean, saw heaven...?"
"She formed a... bond with me—"
"A bond...?"
"Yes! And the moment it happened, I thought of you, Pastor! If you experience it too, you'll change your mind. I guarantee it."
"Experience what, exactly...?"
She asked in an odd tone, suspicion and curiosity tangled together.
"Shall I show you?"
"Fine. Show me."
"You're the one asking to see it, Pastor?"
"I'm saying go ahead and try."
