The Place Where Evil Vanished (1)
“Hey! Wake up!!!”
Mornings at Eunchong Orphanage began with a booming, irate voice.
Ji-ye sprang out of bed on reflex.
Her head was still foggy, but she didn’t even have time to rub her eyes.
Everyone else was the same.
No one pouted about wanting to sleep longer. No one whined.
With tiny, birdlike hands, the children folded their bedding in unison.
Their movements were so disciplined they looked almost military.
All of it had been drilled into them through punishment, with beatings added now and then for emphasis.
Morning sunlight streamed through the window and spread across the wooden floor.
Snow must have fallen overnight, because the branches outside were draped in thick white blossoms.
Ji-ye’s spot was tucked away in the farthest corner.
It was there simply because the sun never reached it.
She pulled on her indoor slippers and avoided the light.
As she yawned and bounced lightly on her toes, a tune slipped out of her on its own.
“Nana~.”
She was in a good mood because the bullying had noticeably eased up lately.
Ji-ye thought of the man who had visited the orphanage not long ago.
He had been tall, with sharp, intimidating eyes.
He had donated supplies to the orphanage and taken the boy in charge aside, making one thing very clear: take good care of Ji-ye.
The older boy in charge, who dreamed of becoming a hunter, had obeyed without argument.
“Wash up fast and gather up! We’re going to breakfast!”
The boy’s voice rang out.
Ji-ye tilted her head.
Normally, they ate breakfast first and washed up afterward.
The menu never changed.
Dry rice, pale soybean soup, bits of carrot, scraps of broken fish meat…
It was the sort of meal even Ji-ye, who never complained about side dishes, could only sigh over.
“Brother Yongki sent us beef short ribs!”
At the announcement, cheers erupted through the orphanage.
Choi Yongki.
His name was unusual enough that even the kids could remember it easily.
Ji-ye’s face lit up.
That sounds delicious!
When had they last had meat?
The children here were so small partly because they never got proper nutrition.
“You’ve got five minutes to wash up! If you’re late, we’re leaving you behind!”
The order went out, and the children rushed for the bathroom.
Ji-ye took her place at the sink.
She turned the faucet, and cold water bit into her hand.
“Brr. So cold!”
Her mind raced.
Hurry. Hurry.
All she could think about was that chewy, sweet meat side dish.
She scooped water into her palm and scrubbed one side of her face.
The other half was covered in a gelatinous bruise-like curse, Black Skin, and reacted painfully to even the slightest touch.
She had to be especially careful when washing.
“Hah…”
Ji-ye let out a breath and braced herself.
She squeezed her eyes shut and washed the rest of her face, ready to endure the pain.
Yet for some reason, the touch against her palm felt oddly smooth today.
Huh? It doesn’t hurt.
Ji-ye lifted her head.
Her reflection appeared in the mirror.
“……”
She blinked.
Only then did she realize something was wrong.
Up until yesterday, her face had still been covered in ugly, dark, lumpy patches.
Ji-ye touched her own cheek.
What met her fingertips was the soft, pale feel of freshly steamed buns.
…Am I dreaming?
Strange things had happened in dreams before.
Like her dead older brother coming to take her away.
Or stuffing herself silly with all the snacks and ice cream she wanted.
In those dreams, her brother always said the same thing.
“Ji-ye. Just hold on a little longer. I’ll come get you someday, I promise.”
When she opened her eyes, the pillow was always stained with tears.
And when she woke to cold reality, disappointment came crashing over her like a wave.
The seven-year-old girl had already learned life’s cruelest truth.
Living was nothing but suffering, and miracles were things that never happened.
So Ji-ye accepted it calmly.
The curse that had tormented her so horribly was gone, and yet she didn’t dare be happy too soon.
It might flare back up again in a moment, as if nothing had happened.
“Come outside!”
Ji-ye wiped her face haphazardly.
She was still dazed, but she decided to follow the schedule first.
The children gathered in front of the orphanage building.
Ji-ye, as always, pulled a large hat low over her head.
Swallows chirped and flew overhead, but she couldn’t bring herself to look up.
If sunlight touched her face, it would burn.
“Move out!”
They fell into pairs and marched toward the dining hall.
Ji-ye walked with her head bowed, as usual.
“Huh? Your face…?”
A boy beside her spoke up.
Ji-ye’s heart sank.
Here we go again.
Monster, witch, ugly girl… the nicknames used to mock her came in endless variations.
The boy talking to her looked like a handsome child actor and was popular throughout the orphanage.
Ji-ye liked him too.
Embarrassed, she covered her face with both hands.
The boy kept talking.
“Ji-ye, your face is better now! You look super cute!”
It was only a simple compliment, but it was enough to make the girl’s heart tremble.
What on earth was going on?
It felt too vivid to be a dream.
Should she pinch her cheek?
The cheek she touched was still soft and smooth.
Ji-ye slowly lifted the brim of her hat.
Her body tightened on its own.
She expected the sting of acid being splashed on her skin, but all she felt was warm sunlight.
“Whoa! You’re totally fine now? That’s great!”
When the boy grinned brightly, the girl’s frozen heart thawed all at once.
“Let’s make a snowman after we eat!”
“……Y-yeah.”
Before long, they reached the dining hall.
“See you later, Ji-ye.”
The boy ran ahead first.
Ji-ye stood there, dazed, for a long moment.
The face reflected in the door was clean, no different from any of the others.
In the darkness that had felt like one long stretch of misfortune, a single ray of light had finally broken through.
Then, suddenly, a large shadow fell over her.
“Hey there, little lady.”
Ji-ye turned slowly around.
Backlit by the sun, a familiar silhouette came into view.
Her older brother.
The hunter called Nike.
“Oppa?”
Big tears rolled down both her cheeks.
A miracle had happened twice in one day.
Even if this is a dream, I don’t mind.
A long, slender hand reached out and wiped her tears away.
When she looked closer, she realized it wasn’t her brother at all, but the man called Choi Yongki.
Yongki bent one knee and lowered himself to her eye level.
“You little punk. So now I’m ‘brother,’ huh?”
She was still too young to understand everything that had happened.
But the girl sensed it vaguely.
The humming she kept catching herself doing after waking up in the morning. The ugly spots that had been ruining her face disappearing.
It was all thanks to this man.
“Ji-ye. Come on, let’s go eat.”
The man called her by her nickname and held out his hand.
Ji-ye smiled and took it.
“Do you like beef short ribs?”
“LA ribs? My brother used to buy those for me sometimes.”
“Are you messing with me? Of course it’s Hanwoo.”
Walking side by side with a hero, the girl’s face bloomed with happiness.
Two weeks had passed since the final showdown with Jeong Myeong-su at Daegu Stadium.
Up until just a few days ago, the media had been in an uproar.
But after a celebrity dating scandal broke yesterday, the flood of articles about the Daegu incident noticeably thinned out.
All the CCTV footage in the stadium had been destroyed.
On top of that, I used my hero powers to cast a brainwashing spell on a hundred thousand people.
They all gave the same testimony.
Someone had impersonated the leader of Cheonyang-ji, and that person had been the one who carried out the terror attack.
Jeong Myeong-su’s real body had been secretly cremated.
There was no longer any way to find his corpse anywhere on this earth.
I had expected the police to come down hard, but the investigation ended far more quickly than anyone predicted.
Guess it paid off to have Jo Jeong-hwan moving fast behind the scenes.
Jo Jeong-hwan had bounced to his feet and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Those corrupt cops! They took the bribe and clammed up right away!”
This was the grand villa inside Paradise Garden.
Under normal circumstances, I’d have been here with the maidservants who waited on the leader.
But for convenience’s sake, Jo Jeong-hwan spent his time alone here whenever he wasn’t needed at a specific hour.
“And the Daegu mayor? We just dropped off a few boxes of recovery drinks and he was grinning like it was Christmas. Ugh. Politicians are all the same.”
Honestly, it was better this way.
What I needed was to wrap the incident up, even if it cost money, not stir up a huge mess trying to catch the real culprit.
And it isn’t even my money.
Every time we held a grand assembly at the Sole Temple, the donation boxes filled up.
And it was all cash.
Whenever I needed funds, I pulled them from Cheonyang-ji and used them exactly where they were needed.
“So? Is the work bearable?”
“How should I put it? It’s a perfect fit for me, I guess. More fun than I expected.”
Jo Jeong-hwan had been performing as Jeong Myeong-su’s double with surprising diligence.
Administrative work, managing believers, building a new system from the ground up.
It was enough to make me wonder if Cheonyang-ji was running better now than it had when Jeong Myeong-su himself was alive.
“It’s all thanks to you, boss.”
At some point, Jo Jeong-hwan started calling me brother.
He was older than I was, but he said I’d changed his life, so he wanted to serve me properly.
“Especially changing the Cheonyang 17 Commandments. That was the stroke of genius!”
The Cheonyang 17 Commandments had been the rules Jeong Myeong-su had set down.
They went like this:
First, we are the leader’s servants.
Second, faith is absolute if you want to go to Cheonyang after death.
Third…
Yeah, it was crap like that.
I’d put Jo Jeong-hwan up as a puppet and changed the whole thing to suit my taste.
First, drink in moderation.
Second, don’t smoke.
Third, go to bed early and get up early.
Fourth, don’t touch drugs.
…
Rules that actually improved quality of life.
Nine, the more volunteer work you do, the higher your chances of going to Cheonyang.
The funny thing was that the believers followed the new rules I introduced to the letter.
Picking up trash, helping protect abandoned dogs, sharing briquettes for charity…
It was still a cult, no question, but Cheonyang-ji’s image had improved little by little.
The 17 Commandments also included instructions about donations.
Eleven, only pay a tithe.
Before, the believers had donated more than ninety percent of what they earned, so most of them were poor.
I’d cut the donation rate to one-tenth, but it hadn’t hurt operations at all.
It was still ridiculously profitable.
Just one week of donations from a grand assembly brought in tens of millions of won.
And there was no tax taken out at all.
From the perspective of someone running a factory, it was an absurdly profitable structure.
Jo Jeong-hwan snickered.
“Seventeen, be faithful to your family. What’s this supposed to mean?”
“It means a happy home makes everything else go smoothly. And it helps the birthrate, too.”
“Bwahaha!”
While laughter filled the room, someone opened the door and stepped inside.
Jo Jeong-hwan’s face lit up at the sight of the visitor.
“Simon!”
He rushed over to greet her.
“What brings you here without even calling? Have you eaten dinner yet? Should I have the private chef whip something up? What do you like? Kimchi stew? Sushi? Steak? Just say the word!”
He was making such a fuss that he must really like Simon.
“Could you back off a little? You smell like cigarettes. Don’t you know the Cheonyang 17 Commandments?”
“Haha! I’m quitting!”
Even when she scolded him, Jo Jeong-hwan only grinned happily.
Simon came over to me.
“I picked the elders again. By next month, I think we should be able to start moving things back to normal.”
Simon knew the inner workings of Cheonyang-ji better than anyone.
Jo Jeong-hwan had been able to adapt quickly to playing the leader partly because of her help.
“Keep helping me out.”
“Leave it to me.”
“And if Jo Jeong-hwan ever skims money or starts acting weird, I’ll need your help then too.”
“That too…”
Simon drew a centimeter of steel from her scabbard.
“Leave it to me.”
The former second-in-command of the Twelve Apostles, and the sole inheritor of Ganro-ryu, quietly made her threat.
“……I’ll do my best. Just don’t kill me.”
Feeling the murderous aura rolling off the swordswoman, Jo Jeong-hwan swallowed hard and shuddered.
Simon slid the blade back into its sheath and got to the point.
“So. What did you need?”
“Let’s go downstairs.”
I pointed toward the floor.
I remembered what Jo Jeong-hwan had told me before.
“Looks like he’s hiding something underground. He’s barred even the Apostles from entering and only goes in by himself.”
If the leader had been greed-ridden enough, then he’d definitely hidden something away.
“Let’s go see for ourselves what secret he’s been keeping.”
I led Jo Jeong-hwan and Simon down the stairs, where an eerie chill was starting to seep through.