Spending Money Only Brings More Windfalls—6

"Get off this private property at once! I'm suing every single one of you!"

The man in white strode forward, protesting loudly, and the men trailing behind him pressed in against the police line.

The officers issued a warning. "Step back. The police are executing the law through legitimate means."

"Legitimate? As citizens of the Republic of Korea, we have rights that deserve protection, and you're treating us like criminals. Isn't that exactly why people call you officers of the watch instead of officers of the law?"

"Step back, I said!"

"Did you just shove me?"

The moment the man in white bellowed, the crowd behind him erupted into a chorus of wailing outrage.

"Vice Leader, are you hurt? The police are assaulting a man of faith and suppressing our religious freedom!"

"Why do you slander us as criminals? Only demons and devils do such things—and yet with those filthy bodies you dare strike our Vice Leader!"

"Apologize this instant!"

As the Cheonri Faith's men clamored and raised their voices, the police began to tense up.

They're deliberately provoking the officers into a physical scuffle.

Obstructing a search and seizure was itself illegal, but the moment the officers tried to detain people for it, the cult would buy precious time.

Come to think of it, the Leader's nowhere in sight, is he?

Stall long enough for the Leader to flee—and to spirit away the family members the victims' group was searching for. If that happened, the Cheonri Faith would slip free of the allegations that it coerced offerings and abducted its members.

A transparent trick.

Even when legal sanctions had come down on them before, the Cheonri Faith had slithered out of trouble like a loach. It seemed they'd simply thrown every dirty trick in the book at the problem.

The police knew it too. Holding their defensive posture, they wavered and gave ground step by step, careful not to let things escalate into open violence even if the cultists charged and shoved.

It was right then that the man in white—the so-called Vice Leader—unfurled a single finger from behind his back.

The cultists caught the signal, shifted their formation, and hardening their eyes, readied themselves to grapple with the police.

No. 1, this is your cue. Go teach that man in white a lesson. All that shouting about how he's the one who's a devil.

The man No. 1 was possessing looked my way and rubbed his belly theatrically.

Fine, fine. Pull this off and I'll buy you an entire Norwegian salmon, head to tail.

The possessed man hopped about in place, then suddenly his eyelids began to flutter violently.

The man under No. 1's control charged at the Vice Leader like a rhinoceros. "You devil! You're the devil himself—die!"

It looked like a clumsy bit of acting to my eyes, but when the Vice Leader shoved back and toppled over backward, the cultists flew into an uproar.

"P-Priest Yeonghun! What on earth—hyargh!"

"You bastard! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Devils, the lot of you wretches! Fall straight into hell!"

It was like watching a scene from an occult horror film. The man called Yeonghun, eyes rolled back white, seemed to have drawn extra strength from No. 1—he threw punches and hurled the Cheonri Faith's men about in a wild frenzy.

"That bastard's possessed by a demon, isn't he?"

"Grab him! Pin his limbs down so he can't move a muscle!"

As the men swarmed in from all sides to subdue him, No. 1 slipped fluidly out of his host—and immediately seized the Vice Leader's body through his nostrils.

"You devils!"

The fallen Vice Leader shot upright. His legs went one way, his torso another. The instant his lolling head snapped back into place, his two eyes were staring off in entirely different directions.

"Th-the Vice Leader's been taken by a demon?"

Slap!

The Vice Leader's hand cracked across a man's cheek.

"Devils! You devils! YOU'RE the devils here!"

"Ugh, the... the Vice Leader's possessed by something."

"Don't say such nonsense. Unless you want a beating later."

It seemed the Vice Leader had a long habit of striking and punishing his men. Several who'd been about to protest wilted and began pleading instead.

"Vice Leader, we were wrong!"

"Please, calm yourself!"

Crack! Crack! The pleading men's cheeks swelled red under the Vice Leader's slaps. The fear and pain they felt were a delicious meal to No. 1, so the Vice Leader's rampage grew wilder by the moment.

"Arrest that man! Now!"

The police lunged at the man called the Vice Leader.

No. 1, start hopping between different bodies and keep the chaos going. Be careful no officers or court staff get hurt.

Moments like this, No. 1 was unmistakably an evil spirit. He hopped from body to body, deepening the confusion and fanning the brawl until, at last, blood was drawn.

"Aagh! Why'd you hit me, you pathetic bastard!"

"You hit me first!"

"Damn it, where do you get off yelling at me, you piece of garbage."

The man who'd taken one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hit swinging back for two. Grudges that had been festering between people for ages. Underlings who'd swallowed their resentments until today—they all tangled together and started brawling. Even though No. 1 had already slipped out of their bodies, the way they flailed and thrashed to do each other harm looked downright demonic.

"Everyone, stand down! Anyone who refuses to comply with the search and seizure will be detained—all of you!"

"They won't listen, sir. This is completely out of hand!"

"Call for backup and haul them all in."

"Yes, sir!"

The police began arresting the rioters, while a separate team pushed inside the Cheonri Faith's compound to carry out the search and seizure.

"Master Secretary General, let's go in as well."

"Yes. Mind your hat doesn't come off."

In case the heretics might attack a monk in his robes, the Secretary General wore a plain concealment cap over his head.

"Don't worry. No one's going to have any attention to spare for me right now."

"That does seem to be the case."

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—No. 1 darted rapidly between bodies, possession after possession, igniting violence everywhere. Caught up in the logic of "if I take one hit, I land two," the compound had descended into utter pandemonium.

"Jeongsu! You wretch!"

"F-Father?"

The victims' families had pushed inside as well. When the father spotted his son and called his name, the son began backing away, ready to run.

It was then that No. 1—unaware of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the situation—possessed the son.

"Aaaaargh! Die, devil!"

Suddenly possessed, the son lunged at his own father and drove a fist into his face.

No. 1! Stop! That man is his family!

No. 1 slipped swiftly out of the son's body and dove into someone else, stirring up trouble anew.

And yet—

The father, his face just bloodied by his own son's fist, wrapped both arms around him in a fierce embrace.

"Jeongsu. Please, let's stop now and come home."

"F-Father, your nose is bleeding—"

"It's all right. It's all right. This wasn't you hitting me... it was me failing to dodge."

How desperately must he have longed to win his son back, to go so far as to lie? The father even begged, unwilling to lay the burden of guilt on his child's shoulders.

"Let's go home. Please, let's just go home now."

"...This is my home."

"Is it? Really? Then look around you. Look at all these people hating one another, throwing punches—do you still believe this is the heaven you spoke of? That this is home?"

I didn't know what had brought him here, but the blind faith in the cult that had hung over the son's eyes like a fog seemed, little by little, to be lifting.

"It... it wasn't like this at first..."

"Come home, Jeongsu. Let's go to our home. Please?"

Much the same scene was unfolding elsewhere.

"Please, honey, I won't say a word about any of it. Let's just go home now. Please—"

"Sis, are you out of your mind? Mom got sick because of you—she's nearly dying! Snap out of it, please!"

The families clung to their loved ones, weeping and pleading. But the people brainwashed by the Cheonri Faith could not let go of the conviction that this place was heaven, that salvation lay only in staying here.

"The Leader's running!"

A policeman's shout rang out. In the distance, a middle-aged man in white was scrambling over a wall—hoisted up on the shoulders of young men flanking him, having stepped on the back of the newly recovered Vice Leader, who'd been forced down onto all fours.

"Where do you think you're going!"

I sprinted at full speed toward the Leader, shouting as I ran.

"You there! You steal cultural treasures and now you run? The hidden relics from the Buddha statue at Cheonjinam Hermitage of Wol-sang Temple—where are they?"

"What's this lunatic spouting? Damn it, get lost!"

"Aren't you being a bit foul-mouthed? Before playing God's proxy, perhaps you ought to go back and redo your upbringing?"

I closed in on the Leader to buy time until the police arrived.

"Go to hell, you bastard!"

"Afraid that'll be difficult. I'm the gate to the afterlife myself."

"What a joke. Hey! Someone stop this punk from coming any closer!"

The men circled me, wooden planks raised.

Do these people have no brains at all?

Their own Leader was using them as a shield to run away—and they were dutifully following his orders.

I fixed the men with a sunken stare and spoke.

"If you pick up a plank, you'd better be ready to take a beating yourself. Who wants to get hit first? You? Or you?"

Every time my finger pointed, the man it landed on flinched and shrank back in fright.

"Here, over here! The Leader's getting away over here!"

"Police! Over here!"

The Secretary General and Moon Sung-il shouted, grabbing at the fleeing Leader. Meanwhile, I dodged the men's swings, snatched a plank away, and snapped it like a disposable chopstick.

"There's exactly one reason I'm not hitting you people. I don't have a taste for playing with puppets."

Crack!

After snapping the last remaining plank, I flung it aside. By then the police had arrived and seized the Leader and the Vice Leader by both arms.

"Let go of me!"

The Leader began resisting with real force.

"You said you were conducting a search and seizure! Then do it! Why are you grabbing me? Where's your warrant? Where's a warrant saying you can arrest ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me?"

"Because you stole cultural assets, that's why."

"Damn it! Ahem! I did no such thing. What nonsense are you spouting?"

I walked toward the Leader. Judging by how neatly he'd packed a designer bag and even a suitcase, he'd apparently meant to go into hiding with everything valuable he could carry.

The earring has to be somewhere in that luggage.

But how would we ever find it? The search and seizure warrant had been issued only to establish the facts of the families' victimization—and proving that would mean going all the way to trial. If the brainwashed families claimed they'd made their offerings voluntarily, the whole matter would once again be swept under the rug.

That was exactly why I'd had No. 1 provoke an assault case in the first place.

"We'll need to investigate whether you ordered the obstruction of police in the execution of their official duties, so you'll have to accompany us voluntarily."

"Voluntary accompaniment? Ha, unbelievable."

The Leader shrugged off the arm gripping him with evident irritation.

"I'm not moving an inch from this spot until my lawyer arrives. I'll wait inside the compound."

He was about to brush past me and head into the building when—

It's glowing.

Before dawn today, when the sun had first peeked over the mountain ridge, that was the light the obsidian had cast, catching the rays that struck the stone pagoda. And now that same light was pouring out of the Leader's pocket.

Just when I wondered if that light was visible to my eyes alone—

"There's light coming from his pocket!"

"He's right."

The officers murmured among themselves.

"Inside that pocket is the earring stolen from Wol-sang Temple. An earring carved from jade by a Silla-era artisan."

"Wh-what earring are you talking about?"

The Leader clapped his hand over his pocket and tried to bolt inside the building.

"Here it is. A treasure of the Silla kingdom."

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠swiftly fished the earring out of the Leader's pocket.

"You thieving piece of trash."

At Moon Sung-il's uncharacteristic curse, the Secretary General flung back his concealment cap.

"How could a man who calls himself the Leader of a religious organization steal the hidden relics sealed inside a Buddha statue?"

"Who stole what?"

"The Leader stole the relics."

The brainwashed members of the compound began to murmur and stir.

"That's the kind of bastard you all trusted—and ruined your lives for!"

Someone snatched up a hammer and began smashing an angel statue to pieces. And no one moved to stop him. Everyone was transfixed, dazed by the mystery of the earring glowing in my hand.

So this is what they were bewitched by.

A weeping statue. A stone figure that bled. All of it nothing more than trapped humidity and droplets running down rusted iron—and yet they knelt before such things, offered up their money, and made their wishes.

Even the people brainwashed by the Cheonri Faith now stared, souls pulled from their bodies, at the mysterious light of the earring in my hand.

This glow was simply the evening sun catching the gold ornament and reflecting off it and—

...No, that wasn't it, was it?

The light that had shimmered just moments ago had vanished without a trace.

What's going on? An earring can't emit light all on its own.

Startled, I lifted my head—and a spirit that had drifted close without my noticing bowed low before me.