Ch.38038 – Inheritance 1

# 038 – Heredity # 1

Yang Juhui asked.

“Did you tell the police about this story?”

“No. I don’t think they’d believe me even if I told them. For now, only we know.”

“That’s better. If my mom finds out about this, she’ll be really sad. She’s the one who forced my sister to attend Yeongji High when she didn’t want to. So…”

“You mean if she had sent her to a different high school, she might not have gone missing? Something like that?”

“Yeah. If she sees this, it’ll remind her of my sister again. Then my mom might get even more obsessed with church, so let’s keep quiet for now.”

Well.

I didn’t want to spread this around either.

I’m the villain. The impostor.

I don’t want to draw people’s attention unnecessarily.

“By the way, was there a reason your mother wanted your sister to go to Yeongji High?”

“My sister originally wanted to go to a vocational high school to get a job right away. But mom insisted she go to a regular high school. They fought a lot about it back then.”

So Yang Dohui wasn’t a great student.

She barely got into Yeongji High, which is a bottom-tier school.

“Come to think of it, our grandmother also insisted that my sister had to attend Yeongji High. She said it was the only way everyone would survive. Grandma had dementia, so she was a bit inconsistent. She also said there was a river flowing underground.”

“A river? Underground?”

“I don’t really know. My mom would know better since she took care of grandma until she passed away. Before the dementia, grandma was really an amazing person.”

Yang Juhui held out her phone to me.

I was quite surprised when I saw the photo of her grandmother who had been a head shaman…

Because the grandmother was wearing a kimono, traditional Japanese attire.

“Isn’t that Japanese clothing?”

“Yes. My grandmother lived in Japan when she was young. Then she was called to perform some sort of exorcism ritual when they were building Yeongji High, so she settled down in Gaeryong.”

This was a story I’d heard before.

Wasn’t it in the materials I researched about the feng shui ghost?

A local prominent family named Cheon was trying to tear down their mansion and build a school in its place, but there were a series of unfortunate accidents, so they tried to perform an exorcism ritual.

“So your grandmother was invited from Japan to come to Gaeryong?”

“Yeah. It was quite a mess back then. She got into a huge fight with the local shaman who was guarding the village shrine tree, and they were at each other’s throats. That woman was apparently against building the school.”

I knew this story too.

The famous “Gaeryong Head Shaman” opposed building the school and refused to perform the exorcism ritual. So the local owner, Mr. Cheon, brought in a “Japanese shaman” from outside!

“In the end, our grandmother won and performed the ritual, and Yeongji High was built. She received a lot of money from the Cheon family, which made our family wealthy… but my mom donated it all to the church, so now we’re like this.”

I see…

While I understood, I still had some questions.

Honestly, I had thought the shaman ghost in the old school building might be related to Yudahui’s grandmother or someone from her maternal line. But that eyeless shaman was wearing colorful Korean traditional clothes, not Japanese attire.

Assuming the head ghost’s identity is Bong Seyeon…

What’s the identity of that shaman ghost?

Come to think of it, the “school construction” story just now featured two shamans.

The native Gaeryong shaman.

The foreign shaman from Japan.

If the possibility that the shaman ghost is Yang Juhui’s grandmother is eliminated…

Then the only conclusion left is:

The native shaman who lived like a guardian spirit of Gaeryong City, the head priestess of the village shrine.

“Do you know what happened to the native shaman who lost to your grandmother?”

“…Native?”

“Wasn’t your grandmother Japanese?”

“No. My grandmother was Korean. She just studied in Japan.”

I see.

So Yang Juhui is also a native Korean.

“I don’t know what happened to the native shaman. But I do know what happened to where her house was. They cut down the village shrine tree and built a church there. Yeong-gwang Church. That was a big deal too. Everyone said they’d be cursed for cutting down the sacred tree.”

The village shrine tree.

That’s not just any tree, but a sacred and mystical one.

To cut it down.

Weren’t they afraid of divine punishment?

They probably weren’t afraid at all!

For a pastor with enough faith to build a church on that spot, a village shrine would be nothing more than a thick, large tree!

In the 20th century, church members destroyed Buddha statues and beheaded Dangun statues, so why would they fear a mere tree?

—The village shrine tree is just a big tree.

For some reason, that conversation replayed in my head.

Yang Juhui said:

“Hey. How did you and Yudahui manage to visit that scary school? You and Jeongseok are both such cowards.”

“She said she’d grant me a wish if I went with her.”

“What?”

Yang Juhui frowned.

She was about to say something but closed her mouth, then finally spoke:

“Hey. Do you really want to go to church with me tomorrow? Don’t you want to hear what happened to the village shrine shaman? The pastor probably knows all about it.”

“Are you suddenly trying to evangelize me?”

“My mom’s been nagging me lately about not going to church. I don’t want to go alone. If you come to church with me, I’ll grant you one wish too. Nothing weird though.”

Oh, shit!

If all street evangelists were like Yang Juhui, churches would be overflowing with people.

“If I go to church with you tomorrow, will you make up with Yudahui?”

“…”

“I think Yudahui had her reasons. Her sudden memory loss might be genuine, like what happened to my mom.”

“…Well, I’ll talk to her.”

Though I pretended to be reluctant, visiting Yeong-gwang Church didn’t seem like a bad idea.

After all, according to Jeongseok, the “culprit” of the high school girl beheading was working as a facility deacon at that church. It would be good to meet them… and also get a look at Pastor Cheon Aesu.

…But I was a bit worried about Yudahui.

I had sent her a message, but there wasn’t even a “1” read notification, let alone a reply.

# # #

Until elementary school, I was a pastor’s son.

That means I know the church system better than most.

Sunday.

For churchgoers, it’s the day the Lord was resurrected, the Lord’s Day.

I headed to Yeong-gwang Church with Yang Juhui.

The high school service was at 11 AM.

At the entrance, people who looked like youth pastors or high school teachers were greeting students warmly.

“Yang Juhui! Juhui! It’s been so long!”

“Juhui gets prettier every time I see her!”

Yang Juhui was popular.

Pretty girls are popular everywhere.

Naturally, they’re popular in church too.

“…”

I stepped away from Yang Juhui, who was surrounded by people, and looked at the church building.

It’s big.

This could easily be called a medium-large church.

I saw the words “Presbyterian Church of Korea” written.

The Presbyterian Church of Korea has several denominations but is the largest faction in Korea, surpassing Methodist and Baptist.

This meant it was an orthodox church, not some obscure cult.

I had wondered if Kim Yeook was attending a cult church.

But that guess was completely off the mark.

“Juhui, who’s that?”

“Is that your boyfriend?”

The church sisters made a fuss over Yang Juhui.

Yang Juhui smiled awkwardly at them.

“He’s my classmate. I evangelized him.”

“Juhui, who hardly comes to church herself, evangelized someone!”

“Wow, the sun must be rising from the west tomorrow!”

Yeah, yeah.

That’s the expected reaction.

Soon, a woman with her hair tied back and a friendly face spoke to me.

“What’s your friend’s name? Have you been to church before? Or is this your first time? I’m Ju Chanmi from the new member team, nice to meet you.”

Ju Chanmi!

A distinctive name and a cool sister with her hair casually tied back.

She’d make a perfect crush for me.

“I’m Ha Yeongwon.”

“Well then, could you please write down your name, address, and phone number here?”

Pretty sisters being friendly and asking for my phone number.

The atmosphere made it impossible not to provide my address and phone number.

Newbies would fall for this completely.

But if I write my name and phone number here, it’s over in many ways!

They’ll contact me every weekend if I don’t come to church!

Although churches with such passion are gradually decreasing these days… judging by the atmosphere of Yeong-gwang Church, they would definitely call every week.

This is a very passionate church.

“I’m… just here to look around today. Just want to check it out.”

I pretended to know nothing.

Let me act like a complete beginner.

Then Sister Chanmi, who was looking at me, smiled skillfully.

“Ah! That’s fine too!”

“What? Did Chanmi just get rejected while trying to get a high school boy’s number?”

Giggling and laughter.

What a warm and friendly church.

As you just saw, church people are generally kind to new members.

When I just heard about “Yeong-gwang Church,” it sounded like a cult den, but seeing it now, it seemed quite normal.

“Hey. Yang Juhui. It’s been so long!”

“The deaconess has been complaining that you haven’t been coming to church.”

There were typical church brothers too.

The term “church brother” might sound a bit off… but actually, most are kind and friendly people, just a few weird ones muddy the waters.

They soon became interested in me.

“Wow, Juhui evangelized someone? Same class?”

“I heard Yang Juhui was known as a scary kid. Did she extort you or something?”

“…Were you forced to come today?”

These perceptive social butterflies.

But the people in charge of new members were usually popular types like this.

New members tend to be shy and passive.

To break down their barriers, you need outgoing and friendly people to interact with them.

Soon, the women also gathered around me.

“Are you Juhui’s boyfriend?”

“Are you dating Yang Juhui?”

“Kyah!”

Giggling and squealing.

What a commotion.

This wasn’t because I was special, but because “Yang Juhui” who brought me was such a popular insider at Yeong-gwang Church.

It was like everyone was curious about who Yang Juhui had brought!

Usually, new members don’t get this much attention.

“Yeongwon? Your name has a lot of circles in it.”

“Your face is turning red!”

This is a bit embarrassing.

When is the service going to start?

Soon, the pastor in charge of the high school division entered the chapel and stood at the pulpit.

He was young.

Maybe early 40s at most?

He wasn’t the senior pastor, “Cheon Aesu.”

Pastor Cheon Aesu probably presided over the “main service” at 10 AM.

The service followed the usual order: hymns, sermon, prayer, benediction.

How about the sermon?

“Today’s scripture is Matthew chapter 3. Please find it in your Bibles. For those without Bibles, you can follow along on the screen here… Let’s read together—”

Normal.

Was I being too suspicious?

“Now, let’s end with the benediction. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ—”

The service lasted an hour.

Reasonably long and reasonably short.

After the service, they had something called a “pasture meeting.”

Derived from a sheep pasture, it was like a group gathering for socializing.

I joined the same pasture group as Yang Juhui.

The meeting place was a cafe near the church.

Everyone was chatting about how they lived last week, laughing together, and this atmosphere felt both familiar and a bit uncomfortable.

How many years has it been since I last came to church?

No.

This isn’t the time for that.

I wanted to somehow hear about the “facility deacon” who attends this church. That’s when:

“So this is where everyone was.”

A large man entered the cafe and greeted everyone.

People stood up saying, “Hello, Pastor” or “Pastor!” to welcome him.

I could tell that this bear-like large man was Pastor Cheon Aesu of Yeong-gwang Church.

He looked about 50 years old.

He looked more like a retired fighter than a church pastor.

Pastor Cheon Aesu entered the cafe, finished ordering, and approached us.

“I heard Juhui came to church after a long time? Ah, our Juhui is harder to see than a celebrity. At least you can see celebrities on TV or YouTube.”

“Y-yes, Pastor. Hehehe…”

The atmosphere was so awkward that Yang Juhui laughed uncomfortably.

However, Pastor Cheon Aesu’s eyes were directed not at Yang Juhui’s face but at me.

“You must be Yeongwon. I’ve heard a lot about you from your mother. You’re more handsome than I heard!”

“What?”

I was genuinely shocked.

Something completely unexpected came out of Pastor Cheon Aesu’s mouth!

It felt like having all my armor and cape suddenly stripped away.

“…You know my mother?”

“Of course I do. Your mother moved here from Seoul and got a job on my recommendation. Do you have some time? I’d like to talk about your father.”

Drip.

Buzz buzz buzz buzz—

Sweat ran down my back and cicadas started chirping all around.