Ch.39039 – Inheritance 2

# 039 – Heredity # 2

“Would you like to have a dessert? This place is run by the butler, and it’s famous for its cakes.”

Pastor Cheon Aesu ordered drinks at the cafe.

I was in the middle of a pastoral meeting and already had a drink, so I didn’t need to order anything new.

I didn’t feel like eating anything either.

What I was curious about was that Pastor Cheon Aesu, whom I thought had nothing to do with us, apparently knew my mother.

Come to think of it, I think Mom did mention that her hometown was Gaeryong City.

So she didn’t just move back to her hometown for work?

Swish-

I glanced repeatedly at the man sitting across from me in the corner of the cafe.

He was a man with broad, sturdy shoulders.

Age around early 50s.

He had the image of a retired firefighter, police officer, or soldier.

If he weren’t wearing a shirt with a Roman collar, no one would have thought he was a pastor. Look at those thick trapezius muscles. I don’t think even ten of me could beat him.

Pastor Cheon Aesu said:

“You’ve grown so much. The last time I saw you, you were a tiny baby the size of a fist. Time really flies. How’s Chaeyeon? I heard she’s been up and down?”

My mother’s acquaintance.

Someone who knows about my childhood…

Having fought ghosts and suffered all kinds of unfair treatment these past few days, I couldn’t help but feel suspicious.

He’s not trying to deceive me, is he?

I answered casually:

“Mother is doing fine.”

“I see.”

Swish-

Pastor Cheon Aesu took out his phone.

It was the latest model I had seen in an advertisement when I went to fix my mother’s phone recently.

“Look at this. Back then, your mother and father were just your age. Did they tell you that your father and mother met in our church’s high school division?”

“1st Yeong-gwang Church High School Division Gaeryong Mountain Retreat”

In the photo, several people were holding a banner with their hands and smiling brightly.

They were about my age, but you could feel the passage of time.

“See. This is your mother, and this is your father.”

“……”

“You don’t like talking about your father, do you?”

I looked around nervously.

Chatter, chatter, chatter.

Inside the cafe where people were talking loudly.

It’s too late in spring to turn on the air conditioning, but it’s very hot.

The glass I had been sipping from awkwardly now only contained ice, with no liquid left.

“Yeongwon. I’m sorry about what happened to your father. Chaeyeon had a hard time after that day too. Still, I hope you can pull yourself together and live a new life. Everyone deserves a chance at a new life.”

Everyone deserves a chance at a new life…

That comment suddenly reminded me of the “facility butler’s” story.

According to Jeongseok, there was a criminal in this Yeong-gwang Church who had cut a high school girl’s throat but never paid for his crime?

The moment I recalled this, I snapped back to attention.

If I kept getting swept up in Pastor Cheon Aesu’s pace, I’d end up showing all my cards and getting nothing in return.

Calm down.

Hoo-

I took a deep breath mentally.

Perhaps it was the effect of the newly acquired “Strong Heart”?

I was able to calm down faster than expected.

“Pastor, I’d like to ask you something. How long have you been at Yeong-gwang Church?”

“I’m the founding pastor of this church.”

“I heard that… before this church was built, there was something like a village shrine tree. Is that true? I’m writing a report on the history of Gaeryong City.”

The part about the report was a lie, but I didn’t feel particularly guilty about it.

I need to survive first!

I need to gather lots of information!

“There was a big tree. A real eyesore. We needed to start construction, but no one would cut down the tree. They said they’d be cursed. So I cut it down myself with an axe and chainsaw.”

“Oh.”

“My office chair and desk are made from that shrine tree.”

…If it were me, I would have been too scared of being cursed to do something like that.

He was quite fearless.

“Then what happened to the shrine shaman? There must have been a shaman who tended to the shrine tree, right? What happened to that shaman?”

“Shaman?”

Pastor Cheon Aesu frowned.

The pastor asked instead:

“Why ask about shamans? They’re not people you want to associate with. Most are fakes who follow misguided spirits, so don’t be curious about them.”

Right. A pastor wouldn’t like talking about shamans.

It was a natural reaction.

Since I had anticipated this response, I made up an excuse I had prepared:

“I heard my friend Juhui’s maternal family were shamans for generations. I was wondering if Juhui might have become a shaman too if she hadn’t attended church… of course, shamanism is all trickery and lies.”

“Lies, you say. Not everything is a lie. Stories of ghosts, demons, and Satan entering people’s bodies to deceive and bewitch them are in the Bible too.”

“Hmm.”

“Do you know what the most vicious ghost is? It’s the spirit of suicide. These spirits make people despair and commit suicide. The shrine shaman committed suicide. She hanged herself at school.”

A shaman who hanged herself at school!

Just as I suspected, the native Gaeryong shaman was the bell ghost seen at school!

“Did she commit suicide because of the shock of the shrine tree being cut down?”

“No. The church was built after the shaman committed suicide. I bought the land when it went up for sale and built the church. About 16… 17 years ago. She was very young. About twenty.”

Twenty?

The calculation seems off? Yeongji High School was built 40 years ago.

Shouldn’t the shrine shaman who had a battle with Yang Juhui’s grandmother be quite old?

“Was she a different shaman from the one who fought with Juhui’s grandmother during the construction of Yeongji High School? I saw it in the Gaeryong mayor’s autobiography. Here.”

I took out the autobiography I had received from Jeongseok and showed it to Pastor Cheon Aesu.

Pastor Cheon Aesu looked at the part I pointed to and laughed, “Haha-“

“Wow. You even read the former mayor’s autobiography? You’re really serious about your assignment. Alright. To tell you the story, the person who fought with Juhui’s grandmother was probably the mother of the shaman who committed suicide. There was quite an age difference.”

“Ah.”

“Opinions were very divided when the school was being built. I remember that time too. The Japanese shaman and the original shrine lady were at each other’s throats – threatening to kill each other. The school construction was almost canceled.”

“Really? It says here that a new shaman performed a ritual and the construction was completed safely.”

“Yes. The shrine lady who was opposing the school construction suddenly died. No one knows why or how. She just suddenly passed away. I remember. She had a very young daughter. That child eventually became a shaman like her mother… and hanged herself. Why do shamans’ daughters all want to become shamans? Tsk.”

I see.

Then let me ask one last question?

“Then what was the reason the shaman committed suicide? Was she looking for something?”

“Well. I don’t know that much. When the shaman hanged herself, I was ministering in Seoul. At Gwanak Jeil Presbyterian Church. A magnificent church like the walls of Jericho.”

Swish, swish-

Pastor Cheon Aesu stroked his chin.

I could instinctively tell that Pastor Cheon Aesu was evading my last question and lying.

It meant Pastor Cheon Aesu was also someone who lied, which meant he was an ordinary adult.

All adults lie, after all.

# # #

“What were you talking about with the pastor for so long?”

On the way home after church.

Yang Juhui seemed curious about my lengthy conversation with Pastor Cheon Aesu.

I answered honestly:

“About my mom. He said my mom used to be in the high school division here.”

“Really? So your mom had you while she was in the church’s high school division?”

……

So that’s how she interprets it.

I felt awkward and made up an excuse:

“Hey, Yang Juhui. Why are you making jokes about my family?”

“…How is that a family joke!”

“Anyway. I also talked about the shrine shaman. Did you know the shaman who fought with your grandmother suddenly died? And her daughter became a shaman too but hanged herself at Yeongji High School.”

“Wow. I didn’t know there was such a story. That’s terrible.”

Yang Juhui frowned with disgust.

Come to think of it… did the native shaman’s family get completely crushed after losing the power struggle to Yang Juhui’s grandmother, the Japanese shaman from outside?

Yang Juhui’s maternal family thrived with the backing of the Cheon family after taking over the native shaman’s position.

But… her sister Yang Dohui disappeared somewhere in the old school building, causing their family to fall apart, and by the time it got to Yang Juhui… she became a delinquent who stole her friend’s cutter.

I suddenly became curious.

“Hey. What happened to your maternal grandmother?”

“She suffered from dementia and passed away a few years ago. She developed dementia at a relatively young age, so my mom had a hard time. She lived with us and passed away shortly after my sister disappeared.”

I see.

It was a productive Sunday as I gained more information than expected.

The Cheon family who owned the mansion.

The battle between shamans.

High school girls disappearing at Yeongji High School.

The Nightmare Corridor.

Everything seemed connected.

Then what about me, Ha Yeongwon?

I’m a complete outsider in this case.

I don’t understand why someone like me obtained a strange status window and is now defending against ghosts.

I guess I’ll have to explore the “Nightmare Corridor” more.

On the way home, I told Yang Juhui about the “Nightmare Corridor.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying. You mean that game-like thing we did before?”

“Yeah. It just feels like that. There are tons of ghosts. So you should be prepared. You might literally wet yourself. But you’ll still come with me, right? We might find your sister.”

I was full of enthusiasm right now.

Corridor exploration team: Ha Yeongwon, Jeongseok, Yang Juhui. Let’s go!

There was still one spot left…

But I couldn’t include people like Jeong Sojin or Kim Geonho.

Swish-

I checked the message I had sent to Yu Dahui.

“Are you okay? How are you?”

The “1” receipt notification from the message I sent yesterday still hadn’t disappeared.

I thought about calling her but decided against it as it might seem too clingy.

“Hey, Juhui. Then let’s meet in the dream later.”

“Ah. That’s so cringy.”

After dropping Yang Juhui off at her home, I returned to mine.

Today I’m definitely going to make my second entry into the “Nightmare Corridor”!

With that thought in mind, as I was about to climb the stairs… I saw something black crouching in front of my darkened apartment on the 4th floor!

“Oh my god! Shit! You scared me!”

I was really startled.

It felt like I jumped about 2 meters into the air.

No joke, if I didn’t have “Strong Heart,” I might have died of a heart attack.

Is it another ghost?

As I was shocked, the 4th-floor light turned on with a click, revealing a familiar face.

“Oh. It’s you. Dahui.”

“……”

The identity of the suspicious figure crouching in front of my house was Yu Dahui.

Yu Dahui said:

“…Yeongwon. Can I stay at your place tonight?”

“…Stay?”

Looking closely, Yu Dahui wasn’t even wearing shoes.

She was standing on the floor with stockinged feet.

For some reason, she was wearing her school uniform.

“Dahui. What’s going on?”

“I left home.”

Oh, shit.

Running away from home.

“How long have you been like this? You could have at least contacted me.”

“Since this morning. My phone… was confiscated as soon as I got home yesterday. So I just snuck out.”

I felt dizzy.

Had she been waiting for me from morning until evening? It seems we missed each other because I was at church.

Then suddenly I became suspicious.

The richest, prettiest girl in the province runs away from home and waits for me in front of my house like a wet puppy?

This is impossible unless it’s a dream or delusion.

“…You’re not a ghost or something, are you?”

I had used both bottles of “Subtle Perfume,” so the effect of hiding from ghosts should still be active.

But what if, just what if?

Click-

The 4th-floor stairway light, which had turned on by motion sensor, went off.

In that darkness, Yu Dahui said:

“…You caught me?”

“Mom!”

“Pfft! I’m joking. Yeongwon, you’re really funny.”

Flicker-

The light came back on.

I felt like I’d been bewitched by a fox, but Yu Dahui was laughing hard.

“Someone told me that ghosts are dead souls, so their hearts don’t beat. Yeongwon, if you’re that scared of me, why don’t you touch my heart to see if it’s beating or not?”

Swish-

Yu Dahui hid both hands behind her back and pushed forward her small chest under her school uniform vest.

I suddenly felt dizzy!

A high school girl asking me to touch her chest to check if she’s a ghost! Does this make any sense?

Isn’t this development too convenient for Ha Yeongwon?

Am I dreaming right now?

Yes! What if this is also an elaborate trap?

I have no choice but to check.

“Then… shall I really check?”

Swish-

I slowly… reached out my hand!