Joo Joohye (2)
Joo Joohye (2) — Hanmaum Salvation Cult, Second Floor
"What have the relics of the old era ever done for you! They feigned composure on the surface, but they coveted your wealth, they coveted your support, they coveted your sacrifice!"
"Aaaaah―"
It was scorching. That voice, filling the prayer hall with its grandeur, and the light in the eyes of those responding to it.
"My children, reborn anew! Was it here that you were forced to sacrifice? That you gave up your possessions? All I require of you is your faith! Your yearning! And a pure longing for salvation!"
"Aaaah― we believe, we belieeeve!"
"That's right! Every word of it is true, Holy Leeeader!"
A prayer hall vast enough to rival the Great Temple brimmed over with the weeping of the faithful. Some mourned the days behind them; others found relief in a salvation that had come at last. At the sight of it, a violent dizziness swept over Joo Joohye. Headache and ringing ears tormented her like the onset of motion sickness.
This is insane. That cult leader, and everyone else in this place.
Sweat beading cold on her face, she glanced around in every direction. She had to find her family, whom she'd been forced to part from when they were separated from the prayer hall. The worshippers rippled and surged at the leader's every gesture, as if each wave of his hand brought them to orgasm. And in that white tide, she spotted her grandfather, with her grandmother seated beside him, swallowed up among them.
Helpless, she ground her lower lip between her teeth until she bit through it. The bitter taste of iron sharpened her fogging mind.
"Hic― sob― sniff―"
Seo Hyewon was weeping right beside her. When Joo Joohye turned her head to comfort her, her eyes widened slightly. Hyewon had her hands pressed together, praying for something with desperate earnestness. At that unmistakable sincerity, Joo Joohye thought of the girl she used to know — the daughter of parents so devout the whole church knew their names, the good girl who could never defy them, wearing that faintly awkward smile whenever she sat through a sermon. The instant she saw how far the girl had drifted from that past self, the last of Joo Joohye's patience hit bedrock.
No — the courage she needed just to endure this situation had been spent to nothing.
"Stop lying! You fucking con maaaaan!"
She sprang to her feet and screamed at the top of her lungs, as far as her breath would carry her.
"……"
The leader's words cut off, and a chill silence flooded the hall. Haah― haah― Only Joo Joohye's ragged breathing echoed through the cavernous prayer hall. She thrust a finger at the man standing on the central platform, then appealed to the Star Light Church people scattered among the worshippers.
"Everybody, wake up! That— that man is nothing but a con artist! He's worse than Sergeant Kim ever was!"
"U-um, unni…"
Seo Hyewon tugged gently at her hand, as if to calm her. Only then did Joo Joohye see clearly, her fury draining away: the Star Light Church people were looking away from her outburst. Not one of them agreed. Every head was bowed — the little lambs who had endured the trials beside her, who had prayed toward their Lord with a devotion bordering on foolishness…
If only the Elder were here…
She remembered the Elder, whom those cultists had carried off with promises of tender care. How she longed for that voice, always wise, always gathering everyone's thoughts into something sensible. But before despair could even take wing, someone in the front row rose to his feet. A hulking worshipper, face swollen crimson, jabbed a finger at her and roared.
"An unbeliever! An unbeliever has defiled the sacred prayer!"
His cry spread through the hall like wildfire.
"A-aaaah, an unbeliever! An unbeliever has appeared in the Sanctuary!"
The crowd recoiled from her as if she were a plague-bearing germ. The worshipper who had first denounced her began striding toward her in long, deliberate steps.
"That filthy unbeliever must be purified at once!"
Gooseflesh crawled up her entire body at the killing intent radiating off him.
"Stop, believer Seo Taesan."
A gentle voice, utterly at odds with the moment. The murmuring hall fell quiet once more. Every gaze turned to the head seat. The leader spoke to them all with a radiant smile.
"Faith is like a very heavy stone. Too weighty to carry at all times — yet to set it down brings anxiety and fear."
No. Don't…
Don't say it like that, please.
"That is why we must understand our sister Joo Joohye. It is you who are remarkable, for embracing that heavy stone as lightly as a feather — not she who is especially weak."
"Aaaaah― Holy Leader―"
Please… please…
"Everyone! Send not arrows of condemnation, but a single warm word, to our fragile sister whose spiritual resolve is not yet complete! Now! All of you, tell Joo Joohye that you love her!"
At the leader's words, the face of Seo Taesan — who had been closing in on her like a man about to kill — melted like dough. His features, kneading themselves back into shape, settled into a chilling smile. And then he said to her:
"I love you, Sister Joo Joohye!"
Aaah― I love you!
I love you, Sister Joo Joohye!
Tender, gentle voices echoed through the prayer hall. Everyone in it was smiling at her, telling her they loved her. She stumbled backward, but there was nowhere to run. Her trembling pupils darted to the architect of it all. In this moment, with every eye upon her, the man in immaculate white spoke to her with his lips alone.
'I love you, sister.'
I have to get out. Anywhere. Right now.
She grabbed Seo Hyewon's arm beside her and hurried for the door of the prayer hall. I love you― I love you― That uncanny love and forgiveness chased at her heels, and she desperately ignored them. She flung the doors open, slipped outside, and shut them behind her.
"Haah― haah―"
Even when the dead came swarming, I was never this winded…
Leaning against the massive white doors, she tried to steady her lungs, still heaving with shock.
"U-um, unni…"
"Ah — Hyewon."
Startled by the deeply crumpled face of Seo Hyewon, Joo Joohye let go of her wrist. She must have dragged the girl along hard, because a red palm print had been stamped there like a brand.
"Wh-what was that for, unni…"
"What do you mean, what for! You saw that creepy-ass scene just now, didn't you!"
Joo Joohye seized Hyewon by both shoulders, her head bowed, and shook her hard. She was afraid. Afraid that even Hyewon would fall for these lunatics. Afraid of being the only one left alone.
"Look at these cultists! It's no different from living in that lunatic Sergeant Kim's country! No — they're lunatics on a whole different level!"
"…They're completely different, though."
"…What?"
Seo Hyewon raised her head. And in a flat, matter-of-fact voice, she pushed back.
"Either way, from now on we all have to live in someone's country, don't we? They give us good food, a room, even peace of mind — how can you put them in the same breath as that lunatic Sergeant Kim?"
"H-Hyewon… you…"
For the first time, the girl had talked back to her.
"U-unni, don't use me just because you're afraid of being left alone. I'm not prettier than you, or slimmer. And above all, I'm not an Awakened. What you've had many chances at might be my only one."
For the first time, Joo Joohye could not refute a word she said. Seo Hyewon gently peeled her arms away from the older woman who stood there, unable to string a sentence together.
"I'm not strong like you, unni. People as weak as me need someone to lean on. Desperately."
Behind her, frozen in place, the doors of the prayer hall swung open. Seo Hyewon slipped back inside, and in the same instant someone planted themselves in front of Joo Joohye.
"You're the first, you know. The first person to ever throw a tantrum like that inside the prayer hall."
"…You."
The vice-leader of the Hanmaum Salvation Cult. This mad organization's executive swept her with an indifferent gaze.
"Did you fail to read the situation properly? Or did you read it a little too well?"
"You people… why did you bring us here?"
"In a world like this, the pork belly you've eaten is worth more than you are. Don't flatter yourself too much."
It was a spiteful, needling way of talking — and yet Joo Joohye's eyes lit up. It was the first thing she'd heard since arriving here. Someone speaking of worth, rather than faith and salvation and other such nonsense.
"Y-you! Do you actually believe in that con man too?"
"Why exactly is our Hanmaum Salvation Cult a cult?"
"Because obviously it is! He acts like he's some kind of god, spouting all that nonsense—"
"Look here, Ms. Joo Joohye."
The vice-leader's voice dropped, cold and level.
"Don't look at the present through the eyes of the old world. This is a world where the real becomes fake, and the fake becomes real."
"…Don't preach faith at me."
"Then don't preach disbelief at us."
Without waiting for whatever came next out of Joo Joohye's mouth, the vice-leader walked down the corridor. Click― click― The crisp ring of high heels ringing clean against the floor, and with them the woman spoke.
"Follow me. Your room was the first one finished."
Still unable to find her footing, Joo Joohye squeezed her eyes shut and trailed after her. Their awkward companionship ended only at the outermost edge of the first-floor living quarters.
[ Joo Joohye — Prospective Believer ]
The vice-leader slowly opened the door bearing her own name.
"Go on in. This will be your room for the time being."
As the white door swung open, a tidy interior and a bed greeted her. Venturing carefully deeper inside, she found a shower, a closet — everything a room ought to have, all of it provided.
"Dinner is in two hours. Get some proper rest."
With those words, she heard the vice-leader close the door and walk away. Only after it shut did she notice the white believer's robe hanging on it. Joo Joohye touched the garment gingerly. The fine-quality robe that the woman beside the vice-leader had been wearing.
So they knew… who I was, all along.
Hyewon's words echoed in her head once more. 'The many chances no one else got.' Maybe it was true — maybe she was still alive precisely because she was an Awakened, even after raising all that hell.
Cradling her aching head, she hurled herself onto the bed. Sinking into the plush mattress, she felt it all over again just how contradictory she was. Cursing the man as a con artist, and yet eating the food he provided, sheltering in the room he gave her. Is it really me who's the abnormal one, in this place? Her skull throbbed as if it would split, the anguish folding over on itself again and again.
Rrrrumble― A short crack of thunder, and rain drumming against the building.
"Mmm―"
Joo Joohye woke with a small groan. The ceiling, gone fully dark, told her how long she'd slept. Rubbing her eyes, she climbed out of bed and moved toward the door to turn on the light.
Clunk―
Something caught her foot. She hurriedly flicked on the light — and there lay a small folding table, with a note pinned to it.
Figured you were sleeping, so I left you a simple dinner. Sorry for saying mean things earlier, unni. — Hyewon
"Hyewon…"
Joo Joohye's voice trembled faintly. Right. There's no way Hyewon would turn on me. Clutching the note to her chest, she was swept up in a rush of tender feeling. Had her grandfather and grandmother eaten dinner? What was Hyewon doing right now? To answer the questions crowding her mind, she slipped quietly outside.
Creeeak―
Tiptoeing down the corridor, using the pale moonlight as her lamp, she skimmed past the nameplates hanging on the doors. Directly across from her room, her grandfather's and grandmother's doors stood side by side, and she pressed her ear gently to them. A steady, even breathing. It was late at night, so of course — the two of them had fallen sound asleep.
[ Seo Hyewon — Rank-and-File Believer ]
Standing before Hyewon's door, Joo Joohye's eyes brightened. If Hyewon happened to still be awake, she wanted to talk. To have an honest conversation with her and clear away every last knot of bitterness between them. She laid her ear quietly against the door — but no sound came through at all.
Knock― knock― knock―
"…Hyewon?"
No response. A shadow of foreboding flickered through Joo Joohye's heart.
Rrrrumble―
She scoured the lobby and the entire residential floor, and still there was no sign of Hyewon. Her frantic gaze swung toward the central staircase.
The second-floor prayer hall!
She had to check there first. Thump― thump― Her worn sneakers flew up the snow-white stairs two and three steps at a time. The further she retraced the familiar route, the more clearly a voice surfaced through the drumming rain.
"Nngh― uuu-ngh― ah―"
Just like back then — like the university youth hostel — Hyewon's sobbing was leaking through the slightly ajar door of the prayer hall.
"Hyewon―!"
Why do bad premonitions never get it wrong! Joo Joohye shrieked and yanked hard on the half-open door. A sliver of moonlight leaking through the windows followed her gaze into the room. Her eyes met the leader's — the man holding Seo Hyewon in his arms at the far end of the hall.
"Hyewon―!"
Even at her cry, Hyewon did not turn her head. The leader stroked the back of her hair again and again with a soft touch — and then began murmuring something into her ear. Only then did Hyewon's head turn, slowly, toward Joo Joohye.
"…Ah. Unni."
"Wh-what in the world is…"
"Unni, did you see the note I left? Sorry for being so harsh earlier. The Holy Leader says that was my fault, hee hee."
A bright flower of a smile bloomed on the face that was always on the verge of tears. And the leader's hands, wrapped around Seo Hyewon, grew steadily more blatant. The fingers that had been toying with her cheeks and earlobes wormed their way down her spine like a serpent.
"Mmmm―"
Showing not a trace of reluctance, she instead let out a sweet moan and burrowed herself deeper into the leader's embrace.
"I knew it would come to this! You son of a—!"
"If anyone heard you, they'd get the wrong idea. This is simply the process of healing believer Seo Hyewon's pain."
"…That's right. You can't curse our Holy Leader, unni."
A languid voice, drenched in moisture. A slick, cloying quality clung all over her — something utterly absent from the Seo Hyewon of everyday.
"Haaah― Holy Leader― Holy Leader―"
If anything, the leader's hands grew bolder, plainly for Joo Joohye to see. Each time his hand moved beneath the white robe, Hyewon shuddered and called out to him. The shape of his hand, visible only as a shadow through the fabric, swam like a serpent, caressing her lower body.
Squelch― squelch―
Lewd sounds rang through the silent prayer hall.
"Uuuuungh― haahh― Holy Leader― Holy Leader―"
The trembling intensified, and Hyewon's upper body arched back like a drawn bow.
"Uuuuungh― H-Holy Leeeeaderrr!"
With a scream that went beyond sweetness into something positively obscene, Seo Hyewon's body shuddered violently and convulsed. Her face blissful beyond reason as she stared at the ceiling, something trickled down from between her legs.
Drip― drip―
Her thoroughly soaked panties letting fall a lewd outpouring of fluid.
"There. You can sleep soundly now, can't you?"
"Yeeees―"
"Since it passed through my hands, believer Hyewon is no longer dirty at all, right?"
"Th-that's right. Thanks to you, Holy Leader, I'm cleeeean―"
"Good girl. Now don't worry about a thing and go to sleep."
"Yeeeees―"
Drip― drip―
Seo Hyewon slipped free of the leader's arms and walked slowly toward the door. Every spot she passed left a small puddle stamped behind her like a footprint.
"Goodnight, unni."
"H-Hyewon!"
Joo Joohye seized the arm of the girl passing through the door.
"…Hm?"
She remembered the girl who couldn't fall asleep easily back in the Great Temple. That peaceful face — impossible to square with someone who'd been wincing through nightmares.
"…If you don't mind, let go of my arm? The Holy Leader told me to hurry back and sleep."
Rrrrumble―
The instant the words left her mouth, lightning struck. That flash of light briefly illuminated the somewhat dark second-floor corridor — and the glistening, wet lips of Seo Hyewon in the white glare.
"…Ah."
Her arm, drained of strength in an instant, was lightly shaken off. And Hyewon walked away into the darkness with unsteady steps.
"H-Hyewon…"
"It seems you have business with me."
The leader of the Salvation Cult stood at the center of the prayer hall, watching her. She couldn't get her bearings. What am I supposed to look at this man and feel? Rage? Contempt? Or revulsion and disgust?
"If you mean to come in, come in. If not, kindly leave."
Joo Joohye, still standing on the threshold, bit her lip. Then, her expression hardening into stone, she advanced toward the leader.
Creeeeak―
Listening to the door swing shut behind her on its own, she came to a stop before him.
"This is the first time the two of us have spoken alone, believer Joo Joohye. Or rather…"
He let the last word dangle, unfinished. She could feel eyes filled with brilliant white light sweeping over her, up and down, without pause. The leader looked at Joo Joohye — who was barely holding down the revulsion of ants crawling over every inch of her skin — and beamed brightly.
"…you Teleporting Awakened."