The Man Who Will Become a God
1.
I took a sip of the coffee left in my cup. Bitter. And yet, for some reason, I felt great.
Ma Hyunju. Kim Soyeon. Jeong Areum.
And here they were now—all three of them—listening to my every word.
A thought suddenly occurred to me. If I kept moving slowly, one person at a time, exactly the way Pastor Kim Soyeon had told me to, how long would this actually take?
Somang Church alone had fifteen members.
And after that?
Other churches. Cathedrals. Temples. Whole other faiths besides.
If I had to watch my step with each one, meet each one, win each one over, it could easily eat up the rest of my life.
No. That's not it.
I set my coffee cup down.
Was that ever what I'd set out to do in the first place? I hadn't gone looking for a church because I wanted to be some ordinary churchgoer.
I'd started all of this to unite the religions.
And someday—I'd already decided—I would stand at the center of a new faith.
Which meant I couldn't keep hiding behind Kim Soyeon forever.
I rose from my seat. Jeong Areum's eyes went round.
"Where are you going?"
"To the church."
"Right now?"
"Yes."
"To see the pastor?"
I smiled.
"It's time I had a proper talk with her."
2.
Sunday afternoon.
Alone this time, the Somang Church I returned to felt nothing like it had that morning. The service was over, and the place was quiet. When I pushed open the glass door, there was only one person inside the sanctuary.
Pastor Kim Soyeon.
She was seated at the desk up front, sorting through paperwork, and looked up as she spotted me.
"Hyunwoo?"
Surprise was written all over her face.
"You just left, didn't you?"
"I came back."
"Is something the matter?"
I stepped into the sanctuary and stopped in front of her desk.
"There's something I need to tell you, Pastor."
"What is it?"
I hesitated for a moment. I'd braced myself to get chewed out for this.
"Jeong Areum has become my third converted follower."
Kim Soyeon's face went stiff.
"...I'm sorry—what?"
"You know she went to the café with me, right?"
"I saw that."
"She asked me all sorts of questions there."
"And?"
I drew a deep breath.
"And I showed her Heaven, too."
Kim Soyeon said nothing. Somehow, that silence was scarier than any scolding would have been.
"Hyunwoo."
"Yes."
"What did I tell you yesterday?"
Just as I thought.
"I know."
"I told you not to breathe a word about what happened with Hyunju—and above all, not a word about the two of us."
"Yes."
"Then how does Areum know about it?"
"Because I told her."
Kim Soyeon closed her eyes and let out a long, long sigh.
"Unbelievable..."
"But, Pastor—"
This time, I was the one cutting in. Kim Soyeon opened her eyes.
"I've changed my mind."
"About what?"
"Going one at a time like this will take far too long."
"Hyunwoo."
"I'm going to become a god."
"That again?"
"Yes. That again."
I wasn't smiling.
"Honestly, at first I thought it was nothing but a mad idea myself. But then Hyunju took my side. Then you did. And today, Areum joined us too."
"That's..."
"I didn't drag any of the three of you into this against your will, did I?"
Kim Soyeon had no answer for that.
"So from here on, I intend to make my own judgment."
"On what?"
"How to let the people here know who I am."
I looked around the sanctuary—at the rows of seats where a dozen-odd women had been sitting that very morning.
"Introduce me."
"Introduce who?"
"Me."
Kim Soyeon's expression turned strange.
"How?"
I pointed at the pulpit.
"Tell them I'm the man who will become a god."
"Hyunwoo, that's going too—"
"And that I'm the one who can show them Heaven."
"..."
"I won't force anyone to believe me."
I went on.
"If they hear me out and don't like what they hear, they're free to leave. If they're not interested, they can simply keep attending church the way they always have."
Kim Soyeon said nothing for a long while. I waited.
Finally, she asked, "Are you really that confident?"
"Yes."
"You could lose every last one of them."
"Then that's a price I'll have to accept."
"And I'm the one who could end up branded a crazy pastor."
To that, I had no ready answer. She had something to lose here, too.
I lowered my voice.
"So if you're against it, I won't force this on you."
Kim Soyeon just looked at me. The pause stretched long. And then—
"...We'll try it. Just once."
"I'm sorry?"
"Once," she said.
"But if the congregation says no, then that's where it ends."
A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.
"Understood."
3.
That evening, an announcement from Pastor Kim Soyeon went up in the Somang Church group chat.
There is an important matter to be discussed. All members, please make every effort to attend.
4.
And then it was Monday. Seven o'clock in the evening.
I didn't go straight in. We'd agreed Kim Soyeon would speak first, so I waited outside the door.
From within, the pastor's voice carried out.
"There is a reason I have gathered you all here separately today."
The room was quiet.
"You remember Kang Hyunwoo—the man who joined us for worship for the first time yesterday?"
A murmur rippled through the room.
"When I first met Hyunwoo, I thought he was a strange man."
A snort of laughter slipped out of me before I could stop it.
"Because he told me he'd come to unite the religions."
Which wasn't a lie.
"But we've spent these past few days talking."
Kim Soyeon's voice was gaining strength, little by little.
"The Grand Religious Unity Hyunwoo speaks of is not a call to throw away the faith you already hold."
The sanctuary went still.
"It is a plea that we stop hating one another over different names and different ways of worship."
And then—Ma Hyunju's voice rang out.
"I believe!"
My eyes went wide. That part wasn't in the script.
Then another voice, right on its heels. Jeong Areum.
"I believe it too!"
The murmuring inside swelled. For an instant even Kim Soyeon seemed thrown off balance, but she quickly raised her voice again.
"I didn't believe it at first, either."
And then—
"Now, at the very least, I want to see how far this man can go."
A brief silence.
"Hyunwoo."
My name, called out.
I opened the door. Every gaze in the room swung toward me at once. It was far heavier than yesterday.
I walked forward slowly. Kim Soyeon stepped aside from the pulpit, and I climbed up onto it.
A dozen-odd faces were fixed on me. Some with curiosity. Some in open disbelief. Some with wariness. It was only to be expected.
I drew one slow breath and opened my mouth.
"My name is Kang Hyunwoo."
A beat of silence.
A small gasp broke out across the sanctuary. Someone's brow furrowed deep. That was fine—I'd expected as much, all the way here.
I kept going.
"I know how insane that sounds. I do."
The eyes came back to me.
"I am not a pastor. I never studied theology. I didn't even have a religion."
Then, slowly, I let my gaze travel across the room.
"But there is one thing I do know."
"The creed all of humanity must walk toward, the one goal we share, is this: to pursue what is right, and to turn away from what is wrong."
"Which means—"
"Do not kill."
"Do not harm others without cause."
"Help those in need."
"Love one another."
"I believe these teachings exist within every religion on earth. Only the names are different."
Kim Soyeon was watching me. Ma Hyunju had her hands clasped tight. Jeong Areum was smiling.
"So let me ask you this."
I raised my voice a little.
"If our hearts are set on the same right, why should we hate one another?"
Silence.
"Churches can remain churches."
"Temples can remain temples."
"Cathedrals, the same."
"I am not trying to erase any of them."
And then I delivered the last line.
"What I want is for them, standing on that shared ground, to acknowledge one another."
A moment of stillness.
Inside, I let out a long breath.
Fuck, I'm glad I memorized that thing cold.
I had rewritten that passage again and again at home last night. I'd even rehearsed it in the mirror. Outwardly, I kept my face as calm as I could possibly manage.
"And."
Now came the most dangerous part.
"I am not asking you to believe in me. Not right away."
A few expressions eased, just slightly.
"To anyone curious what this 'Heaven' I speak of actually is—I will show you myself."
A stir ran through the room.
"But only for those who want it."
I added, clearly and deliberately:
"If you don't want it, you may refuse. You are free to judge me without experiencing anything at all. And if my thinking doesn't sit well with you, you are free to walk away."
Kim Soyeon looked at me—then slowly nodded.
I looked out at the congregation below the pulpit.
"Still—if there is anyone here who would like to find out for themselves..."
I breathed in.
"Please, raise your hand."
No one moved.
Went too far, after all.
Five seconds.
Ten.
And then—from the back of the room—a single hand rose, hesitant and careful.
I looked at the woman it belonged to. A face I had never seen before.
And a moment later, another—from a different row, a third.
The air inside the sanctuary changed.
I fought down a grin as I thought it.
That'll do.
Ma Hyunju. Kim Soyeon. Jeong Areum.
It had all started with three.
And now, for the first time, people I had never sought out—people I hadn't gone chasing—were raising their hands of their own accord.
"Very good. Those of you who raised your hands—I'll be in touch with each of you personally, through the pastor."
At that, a few more hands went up, belatedly—then a few more—until, in the end, every hand in the room was raised.
I was very satisfied.
"Thank you, everyone. I promise you—I will show you Heaven, beyond any doubt."
And then I thought—
— Phew... I'd better start paying serious attention to my protein intake for a while, huh??