Like a Roaring Lion
Vroooom.
Inside the moving car, Kang Hyeong-seok looked out the window and drew a long, deep breath.
Quiet out here. Quiet in every way that mattered. The road itself was four lanes wide, though no one seemed to have put much care into maintaining it.
Ka-thunk!
"This ride is something else."
"Then drive it a little softer."
Shin Yo-sep gave a shrug, the look of a man unaccustomed to handling a car like this one.
"Should we stop somewhere nearby and eat a proper meal first?"
Kang Hyeong-seok studied Shin Yo-sep's profile in silence for a moment, then turned his eyes back to the window and let a slow breath out through his nose.
"Forget it. We'll grab lunchboxes at a convenience store on the way."
"Works for me."
This, from the man who'd spent the last stretch holding forth on the ride quality of a domestic car. Watching him declare convenience store lunchboxes perfectly acceptable, you could measure exactly how anxious he was, however little of it reached his face.
"No pigs around this time?"
"I've already checked where the pig farms in the area are."
Meaning he'd buy one if it became necessary. It was, admittedly, far from a bad plan.
Elbow hooked over the passenger window frame, Kang Hyeong-seok shifted his gaze to the navigation screen. Roughly twenty minutes left to arrival.
"What are you hoping for?"
"No particular thoughts."
A lie. If he meant it, his eyes wouldn't look like that. Whenever demons came up, Shin Yo-sep's gaze always changed in exactly the same way—sorrowful, damp, and dark. So Kang Hyeong-seok couldn't bring himself even to think, I hope the demon you're looking for turns up this time.
Vrrrooom. The car pressed deeper along the empty national road, stopping once at a convenience store whose sign was, strangely, immaculate—lunchboxes, canned coffee, bottles of water—before driving on toward the destination.
Not a single word passed between them the whole way. Because they both knew. Because something bad might very well be waiting at the retreat center they were heading for.
"Hoooh—!"
Shin Yo-sep exhaled until his cheeks bulged, shut off the navigation a good distance short of the destination, and steered slowly toward a clearing where the trees grew thick.
Krrk. With the handbrake ratcheted all the way up, he rubbed his face and kneaded the stiffness from his shoulders.
Clunk. Then, cigarettes in hand, he stepped out of the car—a pack he hadn't touched once in the entire drive here with Kang Hyeong-seok.
Clunk. Kang Hyeong-seok pushed his own door open and got out, and he thought he understood why Shin Yo-sep had parked here. Far off in the distance, framed between the trees, stood a single building.
"That's the one still in operation?"
Fwoof! The flame caught.
"Whew. Half-abandoned, that place. Electricity's about all it gets." Shin Yo-sep answered as he lit his cigarette.
"The power of faith is a frightening thing. Holding a retreat here, of all places... Tsk." He smoked alongside Kang Hyeong-seok, both of them watching the building far off in the dark. "They're choosing to believe nothing will happen. That the Lord's grace has already warded the demon off. That may well be what they intend to go around saying."
Even though the pastor belonged to a different faith, Shin Yo-sep spoke of him in honorifics—and from that alone you could read how much respect he meant to show these people. His fear of the demon showed through just as clearly, in his eyes.
"You might not understand it."
"...No, I think I get the gist."
"In any case, if anything happens, the deaconess will call the nun, and the nun will call me straight away."
"Got it."
Shin Yo-sep checked the time on his wristwatch. Eight in the evening. The hour when the light was dying. Looking up at the night sky as it darkened by degrees, he took a long, deep drag on his cigarette.
Chirrrr, chirrrr.
The sun dropped in the space of a breath.
They ate their lunchboxes in the car, rinsed the taste away with coffee, and Shin Yo-sep lit one more cigarette. Only after that did they move.
Shaaaaa. Kang Hyeong-seok scattered the glutinous rice flour from its sack in a wide arc, and Shin Yo-sep began to recite the prayer.
"Jesus, eternal High Priest—keep watch over the priests who strive to follow in Your footsteps, and let no one do them harm."
Rrrring. With the last of the rice flour scattered, Kang Hyeong-seok swept his eyes over the surroundings, whistling low under his breath as he searched for any evil spirit lurking out of sight.
"Keep always clean and holy the priests who, raised to Your glorious priesthood, consecrate Your Body and Blood day after day."
Shin Yo-sep's prayer continued without pause.
Rrrring! Kang Hyeong-seok shook the shaman bells hard, pressed his lips into a firm line, allowed himself one glance at the building where the retreat must be underway by now, then withdrew his gaze.
Then he began the scripture.
"Sim-sa-yeong-ji, a-sim-jeong. Mu-gung-jo-hwa, geum-il-che, byeok-sa-gyeong."
The scripture that drives out wandering ghosts. A safeguard against the worst-case scenario—so that even if the worst came to pass, the restless dead could add no greater danger to it.
"Jung-ang-cheong-jeong, Cheon-ji-dae-wang, Geung-nak-dae-wang, Cheong-je-dae-wang, Byeong-ryeok-dae-wang."
"With the burning heat of Your love, guard the priests lest they be stained by the world."
"Jeok-je-dae-wang, Baek-je-dae-wang, Heuk-je-dae-wang, Hwang-je-dae-wang, Su-geuk-dae-wang."
"Bless all the works of their hands, that they may bear the abundant fruit of grace."
"Ok-hwang-nim Seon-bul-dae-wang, Min-seon-nae-jae-yeom-poong-dae-wang."
Prayer and scripture. Two wholly different things, and yet the two men carried out what each of them could with a single heart. Please, let them be safe. Let nothing happen.
Grrk. Shin Yo-sep looked toward the building, clenched his back teeth hard enough to ache, and opened his mouth.
"Grant that through us they may find in this world a joy and consolation without equal, and in heaven enjoy a glory that shines resplendent."
"Min-gan-nae-jae Seon-ji-dae-wang, Se-sang-nae-wang, Gon-ryun-dae-wang. Jap-gwi-deung-sal, sok-geo-toe-san."
Chirrrr.
The building must have stood to the east, he thought—judging by the way the moon was climbing, as though rising toward it.
Watching a moon that, tonight of all nights, refused to release their eyes, Shin Yo-sep and Kang Hyeong-seok brought prayer and scripture to a close.
"Amen."
"Om geum-geum, yeo-yul-ryeong, sabaha."
"All right, youth group, gather over this way. Everyone's got their lanterns, yes?"
At the smiling words of the young pastor—a lean-faced man—the pack of college students huddled together, each wearing a different expression.
They stood before the retreat building, which looked for all the world like something abandoned; with a bonfire burning out front and a barbecue grill whose coals had yet to die, the dark didn't feel all that dark.
"Come on, loosen up those faces. You all know how much the little ones in the children's group have been looking forward to tonight."
"Even so, Pastor..."
A broad-shouldered college student grumbled under his breath and hoisted the beat-up lantern in his hand as if to display it.
"What even is this? If you're going to hand something out, hand out something decent."
"They're all the same. Your faith in the Lord is your lamp—what could be the problem?"
"The problem is we can't see where we're going. If a kid takes a fall out there, that's a real problem."
"Which is exactly why you lot need to look after them properly."
Deciding the conversation was going nowhere, the student scratched his head and backed off.
"Yes, Deaconess. Everything's ready on this end."
Phone to his ear, the pastor reported that preparations were complete. Before long, the children of the kids' group—fresh from brushing their teeth and getting ready for bed inside—came filing out under the deaconess's and deacon's watch.
"The courage test goes ahead as planned. We won't be splitting into teams—everyone goes together. We'll just make one big loop around the area and come straight back."
"Aw."
"Lame."
"Can't we just go off on our own?"
"Ah-ah, no you may not."
"But I don't wanna..."
"Ah-ah."
Having put his foot down, the pastor let a smile tug at the corners of his mouth as he looked over the youth group students.
"Then we're counting on you. Don't get careless just because it feels like a night stroll. If so much as anything happens, call right away."
"Yes, sir."
"Got iiiit."
Watching them answer with all the enthusiasm of homework, the pastor smiled as if to apologize and beckoned to the little ones.
"Off we go. Listen closely to your big sisters and brothers out there, all right?"
"Ye-e-es!"
"We'll be back!"
"See you laterrr!"
The children set off in the youth group's wake with springing steps.
Courage test was just the name of the thing. With children along, nothing genuinely dangerous could be attempted; in practice it amounted to a short walk in the dark. But the kids seemed to love it anyway, if the way they chattered and shrieked and laughed meant anything.
"Aigoo, such cuties."
The pastor smiled a warm, contented smile, folded his hands just below his belly, and prayed that nothing—please, nothing—would go wrong tonight.
The sound of the children laughing and chattering drifted past.
Kang Hyeong-seok frowned at the lantern glow, visible even from this far away, and at the kids' ringing laughter. He'd caught fragments earlier—something about a courage test, and so on.
"How does it look to you?"
Shin Yo-sep's question came hard on the moment, and Kang Hyeong-seok answered with a shake of his head.
"No evil spirits."
"...You're certain?"
"I am."
Kang Hyeong-seok had combed through every inch of the area, and not a single malicious spirit worth the name had turned up. And yet his heart wouldn't settle—and for an entirely different reason.
"Shin Yo-sep."
"Yeah?"
Watching the children dwindle into the distance, Kang Hyeong-seok flicked his tongue across dry lips and forced the words out.
"The Bumaja—the possessee—you people talk about. Is there really no way to stop one before it happens?"
Talismans. Purification rites. The ways of Korean shamanism held any number of methods for keeping evil and danger from ever arriving. He had asked in hope of exactly such a thing—but Shin Yo-sep denied it in a flat, even voice.
"There isn't."
"...Why not?"
"Because standing against demons is also part of what human beings are for."
And so humankind must forever keep watch against evil, grind its heart sharp and clean, and practice goodness. Evil holds no equal standing with good. Just as a candle no bigger than a thumb can light an entire room, even the smallest goodness can stand against evil. But a demon is relentless and cruel, and it will claw its way, by hook or by crook, into the heart of a human being.
"Be sober, be vigilant. Your adversary the devil prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."
Reciting it as though a prayer, Shin Yo-sep quoted the First Letter of Peter, chapter five, verse eight. His voice carried like a desperate urging meant for someone in particular.
Kang Hyeong-seok rubbed his dry lips against the back of his hand and looked at the backs of the church youth and the children, by now a fair distance away.
Bzzzzz.
He lifted his gaze—and there, a spider the size of his palm was advancing, step by deliberate step, toward a moth snared in its web.